Losing Him
by TvFan2244
Summary: No Such Luck AU: The Louds thought kicking Lincoln out would be good for them all, but now they realize that actions have consequences, and this time they're the ones to blame.
1. Chapter 1

**So yeah, I'm gonna get straight to the point, I had...mixed feelings about No Such Luck, it started semi-okay, but I think a few lines were crossed when Lincoln was kicked out of the house and his furniture was all sold, at the point yeah I didn't like this episode.**

 **As much as I love The Loud House, the only episodes I really hate are the ones where Lincoln is the source of ridicule and gets tossed around a lot by his sisters I mean seriously, No Such Luck is up there with Brawl In The Family as my least favorite episode, so I decided to write this story.**

 **Now I know that there are those that may argue that it was Lincoln's own fault that he decided to pretend to be bad luck, but the kid just wanted some time by himself, I can relate to that and as stated above, kicking him out was seriously not cool, considering the fact that kicking out a minor is illegal. So yeah, you might expect the police to get involved. Also, this kinda made the parents and the sisters hypocrites, in The Ties That Bind, the parents said that they would never actually get rid of any of them and the sisters would never let them kick Lincoln out, since he's their only brother. I'm just saying, it's a perfect example of Aesop Amnesia.**

 **Don't forget to Review. Enjoy!**

* * *

The aftermath of a baseball game would often incite a feeling of accomplishment for the team that wins it, but it could not be said for Lynn Loud Jr., she was staring glumly at the ground, anger and disappointment written all over her face, she only gets like this whenever a) one of her sports equipment gets broken, b) she gets cut from one of her teams, or c) when she loses a big game, unfortunately it was the third one. It was the second game her and her team the Squirrels were playing this week, she thought for sure that she would win this time, at the beginning of the game she was so full of confidence, the same usual confidence she had at every one of her competitions, especially when such that one such element that was missing from the previous game, that she was convinced was the cause of the problem s in the first place. However, it seems like it was destiny that she failed again, near her was a baseball bat that was broken into pieces, courtesy of her, she smashed it to the ground in frustration. She glanced an envious glare at the other team, as they celebrated their victory, that was supposed to be her and her team, not them, what she wouldn't give to throw a few baseballs their way, but such conduct would not sit well with her coach. Plus it would show poor sportsmanship, she wouldn't want to hurt her image.

"Hey junior." she looked to see her father and her family (minus a certain white haired boy) walking to her with sympathetic smiles. "You'll get 'em next time. Come on. Why don't we get on home?"

Sighing she got up. "Whatever."

As the family walked, the kids went to the parking lot where Vanzilla was waiting. The father reached into his pocket, but oddly he felt nothing, his pockets only carried his wallet, but nothing else. "Huh, that's odd."

His family looked curious. "Is something wrong, honey?" Rita asked.

"I don't know, I can't seem to find the darn keys, I didn't drop them at the field did I?" he rubbed his head in thought.

"Um, pops?" Luna tapped him on the shoulder, gaining his attention, she pointed to the glass window, looking inside they all saw that the keys were still in the ignition.

"You left the keys inside?" Lori asked, giving her father an incredulous stare. "Are you literally serious, dad?"

In response, he sweated nervously. "Uh, guess I was too preoccupied with the game."

"Don't worry, I'm on it." Lana said as she grabbed a rock and threw it at the windshield, breaking it, making it easy for him to unlock the door. "There, your welcome." the tomboy twin wiped her hands in satisfaction.

However, the senior Lynn could only cringe. "I just put those new windows in."

Lana lost her smile. "Oops."

"No worries." he assured. "I can always bring it into the auto shop...again...which will cost more money...heh." Soon, they were all in the van. "Okay, everyone have their seatbelts on?" his answer were nods. "Alright gang, here we go." he turned the keys, but the motor wouldn't start, he tried againn, but the vehicle was still in its place. "What in the?"

"I'll check it out?" Lana said, taking out her tools, she went out of the van and went to the hood, opening it, she went to work on fixing up the engine. "Okay dad, try it now."

He did so and it finally turned on. "Great, nice work sweetie." he complimented his daughter as she got back in. With that, they began the drive back home, while they sat in silence, Lori was texting on her phone, then the van hit a bump on the road and she accidentally, dropped it to the front.

"No, my phone!" she tried to grab it by jumping to the front, distracting her dad.

"Lori, stay in your seat!"

Her father's order fell onto deaf ears, as she tried to get it from the front of the vehicle causing him to swerve from his formerly straight direction, if he had looked at the road, he would have seen that he passed a red light.

After a brief scuffle, she was able to find her device. "Phew, that was a close." she sighed in relief, but shrieked. "Ah! The screen broke a little!

"Lori, that was dangerous!" her mother sternly chided her oldest daughter. "Who knows what could've happened?"

Before Lori could respond, police lights were seen, Lynn Sr. saw the door mirror, and saw a police cruiser coming up at them. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." he grimaced, he stopped as the policeman stepped out of his car and faced him. "Is there a problem officer?"

"You do realize that you didn't stop at a red light, sir?" the cop informed him.

"What? No I didn't." The officer pointed his thumb to the back, the patriarch of the Louds looked to where he was pointing and saw a few cars that were pulled over near each other, the drivers shook their fists at him in anger. "Oh." he winced in guilt. "Sorry about that."

"Driver's License." the officer held out his hand. Sighing in defeat, Lynn Sr. took the license from his wallet and gave it to the policeman, he inspected it for a minute then didn't give it back. "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you and your family to exit the vehicle."

Lynn Sr.'s eyes shot open in shock. "Excuse me?! Why?!" he demanded.

"Your license is expired."

All the father of 11 could do was drop his mouth open. Much to the outrage of his family, he complied with the officer's orders, they watched helplessly as their family minivan was towed away. The policeman then hopped into his car and drove away, leaving the family with no way home.

"Well, that's just great." Lola scowled in annoyance, but then felt some thing wrong. She reached at the top of her head and felt nothing but her hair. "My tiara." she whispered. "My tiara was in the van!" he cried out, she made an attempt to chase after the tow truck. "Wait, stop, your carrying precious cargo!" she cried out, but predictably it was in vain.

"That's enough princess, we can always buy you a new one." her father comforted her, then he addressed everyone. "Okay everyone, look like we'll have to walk our way home."

As they walked, Leni was applying makeup on her, but if she had been looking like she was supposed you, yhen maybe she would have noticed the rock on her path, she tripped and fell on the floor. "Owie!" she cried, as she got up she had a look of horror. "Ah!"

"What's wrong, did you break something?" Lori asked.

"Worse, my dress is ripped!" she sniffled at the torn piece of fabric she was holding which was indeed form her present clothing.

"Oh come on." Lynn scoffed, it was evident that the jock was still bitter about her loss. "That's just dumb." she raised her arms to emphasize it, but accidentally shoved Lucy in the process, making her drop her poetry book, it was thrown across the road until it fell right through a manhole and into the sewers underneath.

The goth turned to her athletic sister. "Not cool." though her voice was as emotionless as it's always been, there was clear anger. "I worked hard on a lot of poems."

"Oh, go cry me a river."

"Please cease your bickering." Lisa rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt it'll help with our current predicament."

Lily sniffled a little, but Rita soothed her. "Aw don't worry sweetie, we'll get home soon, besides things can't get any worse."

Oh, how wrong she was.

* * *

On a another part of town, the sad, depressed form of Lincoln Loud was strolling through the area, his hands were deep in his pockets, tight now this was the only place he could think of being in right now, considering the fact he got kicked out of his own home, by his own family no less, he was ad, and angry both at his family and at kind of himself, really, now that he thought about, maybe pretending to be a bad luck charm around his family wasn't that great of an idea, he only wanted to have more time by himself, he didn't think they'd go far as to actually keep him out of every thing they do, worst of all, kick him out. So, right now he can only go here, he already went o the arcade and comic book store, but honestly he'd want nothing more than to be back home, with his family, he heard a ringtone from his carpet, he took out his phone and saw that his best friend Clyde was calling him. "Hello?"

 _"Lincoln? That you?"_

"Yeah, it's m Clyde, what do you want?"

 _"I haven't heard from you for a while buddy, some guys say they've seen you around the city. Everything alright?"_

"Oh yeah, I'm having the time of my life." he replied, one could plainly notice the nasty sarcasm in his voice.

 _"Doesn't sound like it."_

Lincoln sighed, other than Ronnie Anne, Clyde was the only other person he can't help but pour his heart out to, and so, he told him everything; about how Lynn blamed him for her loss in the first game, and how he came up with the stupid idea of putting up a whole charade about him being a bad luck charm, which resulted in him getting casted aside by his whole family, being treated like he was some sort of threat to all of them, needless to say Clyde was horrified.

 _"So they just kicked you out?! That is messed up!"_

"I know right? I just wanted to have more time away from them, okay and hey Lynn forced me to go to her stupid game, but when she loses, it's automatically my fault." he threw his hands up. "But, hey, you know what? That's okay, I mean, at this point I'm actually used to it by now."

 _"Used to what?"_

Something began to stir inside Lincoln, a fuel of anger and frustration that has been held back for some time, but now it's beginning to come out into the open. "Oh it's nothing serious Clyde." Lincoln replied with a snarl. "You know, it's just that whenever something goes bad for our family, when Lori has a fight with Bobby, when one of Leni's dresses gets ruined, or when my sisters fight each other, I'm always the one that has to be held responsible,! It's never any of their faults because they're girls, they are just so perfect aren't they? They could never mess up as bad as me, because I'm the only boy in the family, I'm the slob, the one who always messes up everything; I'm not gonna lie, some of the bad stuff are my fault, I've got flaws, that much I can admit, but they are no better alright, Lola always has blackmail us into doing stuff for her, Lori takes advantage of being the oldest sibling to get her way, Luan gets a sick thrill form pranking us, Lisa thinks it's okay to experiment on her own family, and Lynn is basically the bully of the family, she always wants to roughhouse with me and doesn't care if I get hurt, and apparently they don't care at all about me that they just threw me out, even my own parents did that! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold all my furniture!"

...Beat.

 _"Um, are y-you done?"_

The white haired boy took a deep breath, and calmed down from his rant. "Yeah, I'm cool, just really needed to get that out of my chest." he looked down on the ground. "I don't know Clyde, sometimes I wonder if they even love me at all."

 _"What? Come on Linc, your their only son and brother."_

"Which is exactly the problem, I'm the odd man out pal, the only kid that didn't turn out to be a girl, and you know something? Maybe it was some sort of curse, I mean, who knows? Maybe they just all wish that I can just die!"

 _"Woah, take it easy dude, you're talking crazy!"_

"No, no maybe that is what they want, none of them asked to have a brother or a son, they were completely comfortable with only having girls, so maybe mom and dad didn't intend to have a sixth child, maybe I was just some mistake, they were probably planning on aborting me or putting me up for adoption, but decided not to because they didn't want to seem like heartless monsters, which they are! And now, they regret it! Heck, the sisters would be free of some kid who was a comic book geek, a kid who likes Dairy Land more than the mall, a kid who doesn't have more in common with them because he's a boy!"

 _"Dude come on, so what they did was pretty much the definition of heartless. But they're still your family, why don't come over to my place? We can talk this out, heck I could call Dr. Lopez over, she's pretty good at this."_

Lincoln just laughed. "Oh, I don't know if that's such a god idea buddy, I mean why invite someone who's bad luck into your nice, little, home." he scowled, as he hung up." With that he was all alone, his eyes were close to dropping fresh tears, it took a lot of emotion to say all that, and inside a part of him wonders if that really was true. In the 11 years since his birth into the Loud family, he always tried to convince himself that no matter what happens, his family would always love him, but after recent events, he was starting to question it.

Then he heard something.

"Someone stop him!" he looked and saw an adult male wearing a bandana around his face, carrying a purse full of cash, one thing to take note of, was that he was carrying a gun, he just bumped into Lincoln. "

"Oof!" he grunted, seeing the boy, he pulled him back up. "Watch where you're going you little shit, and give me all your money!" he pointed the gun at Lincoln, who could only widen his eyes.

* * *

"Santiago! Your shifts over!" the boss yelled at him.

"Got it boss." Bobby Santiago replied as he exited the food shop, it was the recent job he had this week, he was saving up money to buy Lori, his girlfriend, a new bracelet. He hummed a happy tune, until he heard a loud bang sound.

"Oh my god!"

"Someone call 911!"

Booby stopped his tune and ran over to see what all the commotion was all about, he saw a masked with a gun run away, then he saw something else that made his blood run cold, it was Lincoln Loud, bleeding on the floor. "Dios mio." he whispered in horror, he rushed over to Lincoln and kneeled down and almost threw up as he saw the deep gun shot wound on his shoulder and on the right side of his chest, he was gasping loudly, likely he was suffocating, the Hispanic boy tore off a big piece of his shirt and placed it on the wound, he remembered doing something like this when he worked in the emergency room. "Little Loud, bro, look at me." he instructed. The boy could only so that.

"Bobby..."

"Just hold on, your-your gonna be fine." his big brother figure soothed. "Hey! Someone call a doctor! Anyone, help!"

"Bobby." Lincoln addressed him, making the teenager turn to him, to his surprise, Lincoln actually smiled, seemingly in content. "It's okay." the boy's eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.

"Lincoln?" Bobby called, but got no response. "Bro?" he tried again, only to get no answer again. "LINCOLN!"

* * *

 **Don't worry, he's not dead.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I'll be honest I didn't expect this story to get so many likes and follows, now, I'm gonna talk real here, I never believed in things like good luck or bad luck, I always thought they were just excuses for someone to rationalize (I use the term loosely) something good or bad happening to him or her, I think things happen because it just happens, I don't think finding a quarter or walking under a ladder defines what happens to us. Now here we are, in chapter 2, where the family will learn of Lincoln's predicament, and of course drama and reality will ensue, hope you like it.**

 **Don't forget to leave reviews.**

* * *

Walking all the way from the town and to their neighborhood was definitely not the best way to go home, the Loud family couldn't have called a cab, mainly because they couldn't fit inside a single one, so walking was their only best bet, or worst being the appropriate word to use, Lynn Sr. was also having a dilemma, since the van was towed, the only way to get it back is if he went to the DMV, however that poses an issue since the people at the DMV are somewhat wary of any Loud member wanting to take a test due to the many accidents caused by one sister...*ahem* Leni, *ahem*, not to mention how much it would cost to get it back. So yeah, it was very safe to say that hey were not in high spirits during their walk back home, especially Lori since her phone ran out of power, which meant that she couldn't speak with her beloved boyfriend, Bobby, she wondered what he was doing right now, probably walking back home from a new job. "Okay, guys, our house is coming up." the patriarch told them. At least, now things could go back to some level of normalcy.

"I got the door." Luan walked up the stairs and grabbed the knob, which broke apart from the door. "Dang it."

"Seriously?" the twins groaned.

"Fear not." Lisa assured as she took out a device and aimed it at the door, it gave them a way in, but left the ddor completely destroyed, the parents glared at her for this. "Well, it was the only way possible."

"Oh sure, I mean the van was towed, I have to get a new license, and now I got buy a new door." the father pointed out. "Next thing you know, I lose my credit card." he exaggerated as the family walked in.

"Why don't we just watch some TV?" Rita suggested. They sat down and she picked up the remote as., but all they could see was static.

"Dang it." everyone grimaced.

* * *

The precinct at the Royal Woods Police department was busy like always, everyone was moving about, filing reports, giving reports, searching up on any leads for each individual case they were working on, one such individual we bring our focus to is a n adult male, he was tall and intimidating, looked like he was pushing up in his 50s yet still kept in peak physical condition, he was wearing a black trench coat and was wearing a gold badge, he had just exited from the elevator and was drinking a cup of coffee. He looked a little gruff and gave off a hardcore vibe, from the expression on his face it could be clear that he's seen a lot I his days in the force, most guys like him often do. His name was Detective Abraham Stone, he's been in the force for about 17 years now, and he's earned himself quite a reputation as a cop who doesn't take too kindly to criminals, especially if they abuse innocent children.

"Hey there Stone."

He turned to the left and saw a young man at his desk, he had short black hair and was wearing clothing similar to him, this was his detective partner, Matthew Brookes, he was assigned to him a year ago, at first they a few issues with each other, considering their differing ideologies on how to deal with perps. But, they've come to find some common ground. He was a good cop, that much can be certain, but sometimes he thinks antagonizing a suspect or perp will only make things worse, not just for the victim, but everyone involved.

"What's up Brookes, you gave the Captain our last report?" Abraham asked.

"Yeah, just a few hours ago." Matthew replied before muttering. "Even it was supposed to be you." however, it wasn't quiet enough so that Stone would hear.

"Hey, I was just getting some coffee, had a long night." Abraham defended as he sat down. "There hasn't been that much action for weeks, unless you count that burglar we snatched at the Franklin Avenue area, but for me it was every other Saturday."

"Eh, Royal Woods is a quiet place, Abe." Matthew shrugged. "It is kinda too much to ask for a case that's actually worthwhile."

"Stone! Brookes!" a commanding voice barked.

The two detectives looked and saw their precinct's captain, Nathaniel Jenkins walking over to them, from the tone of his voice, it sounded serious, they stood up at his presence. "Captain." Stone nodded.

"Something wrong?" Brookes asked.

"You bet your ass there is." the Captain replied. "I need you two to head to 25th street, reports came in about a mugging of a women's purse." then his tone turned grave. "Witnesses saw the perp shoot a kid."

Matthew's eyes lit up in shock, while Abraham's twisted into a furious scowl, wasting no time, the cops gathered their things and headed out. "Are ambulances already in the area?" Abraham asked.

"They got there as soon as they got the call."

* * *

It didn't take long for the detectives to arrive at the crime scene, people were in hysterics, a few beat cops were there to cover crowd control, while they saw the heartbreaking sight of the 11 year old child with white hair bein carried onto a stretcher, many were crowding to see if he was okay or not, a few news people were also on the scene, Stone was somewhat annoyed by this, he never liked it when the media would get involved in any police case, in his point of view, they didn't care about the victim, they just wanted a good story. They approached one cop who seemed to be in command.

"Detectives." he nodded, as he offered his hand, which Matthew shook. "I'm officer Turner."

"Do you have any idea what happened here, officer?" Stone asked, getting straight to the point, he wanted to waste no time in this incident.

Turner gestured them to follow him. "From what we've got from the witnesses, they saw some punk wearing a blue bandana going off with a poor woman's purse next someone said that he saw the bastard bump into the kid, then took two shots, one in the shoulder, and another to the right side of his chest. Little guy is lucky, if someone hadn't made the call, well, I don't even want to think it."

Stone could relate to that. "Who called for an ambulance?"

"That young one over there." Turner pointed to a Hispanic teenager, who was standing near the boy with an anxious look. "From what others have seen, he was trying to stop the bleeding as much as he could."

The detectives nodded and made their way to the teenager. "Hey, kid." Brookes addressed making him to turn to them. "I'm Detective Brookes." Matthew introduced himself, then motioned to Abraham. "This is my partner, Detective Stone, we were hoping perhaps you could answer a few questions for us, if you want to that is."

"O-Of course." Bobby replied, snapping out of his daze. "I'm Bobby. Bobby Santiago."

"Well, Bobby, mind telling us where you were at the scene?" Stone asked.

The teenager hesitated a little, but knew that he had to answer. "Well, I was walking back home from my job, then I heard a bang sound, I ran over and I saw-" Booby swallowed with an audible gulp, still reeling from the events. "-I saw Lincoln. Bleeding on the floor." he said the last part with a haunted look and was slightly trembling.

"Lincoln?" Brookes repeated.

"Yeah, that's his name, Lincoln Loud."

'You know him?" Stone inquired.

Bobby nodded. "He's my girlfriend's younger brother, and a good friend of mine. Look, someone need to tell his family, especially Lori!" he said with a dire tone.

"And we will." Brookes assured. "We just need to find out as much information as we can possibly. Look you must be tired, you should get on home, your folks must be worried sick, we'll handle everything, if you have any more information, let us know." he handed the boy his card.

The Santiago boy wanted to believe them, but it didn't felt right to leave him in this state, he couldn't call himself Lincoln's friend or most of all his big brother if he just left, but they were the police, they can handle this; hopefully. With some bit of reluctance, the teenager began to walk away, but not before giving one last look to Lincoln. With that, the detectives were now on the job. "Alright, all we have is that the perp was wearing a blue bandana, we might have to do a search around town."

"We'll get this bastard." Stone swore with a determined glare. "But what I want to know is, what the hell was a kid doing out here at this time of the our? Shouldn't he been at home?"

"Detectives!" they turned around and saw Booby run back to them, the look on his face seemed to imply that he just remembered something, something crucial. "There is something you should know!" he panted.

They both glanced at each other. "What would that be son?" Stone asked.

Bobby swallowed hard, almost afraid to answer the question something inside him told him that this was necessary. "While I was trying to stop the bleeding, Lincoln called my name, and he...smiled."

Both cops blinked a few times. "Smiled?" Brookes repeated, hoping he heard right.

The teen nodded. "And that's not all, he-he told me these exact words." he waited for one moment as the detectives waited, preparing themselves for what he was about to say. "He told me; "it's okay", the he just-" he choked out the next word. "he just went asleep!"

All the detectives could do was give each other a very, inquisitive glance, seems like there's more to this incident than just a kid being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

* * *

It was a momentous occasion, for the first time in 17 years since the parents decided to have kids, their house was actually quiet, since the television wasn't working, the family had nothing to do, the father remembered that he had a spare door to replace the one that his genius daughter destroyed, with that, most of the sisters were inside their rooms. "Where is it? Where is it?" Luna said as he went through her drawers.

"Looking for something?" Luan asked.

Her older sister sighed frustratingly. "It's my laptop, I thought I put it on my bed before we left for Lynn's game, but I can't find it anywhere, I recorded several new songs on it, and now I can't find it anywhere."

"Hmm." Luan rubbed her chin in thought. "Have you checked your lap?" she asked with a chuckle.

The rocker just glared at her. "Seriously, please, just stop." she laid on the bed, but then felt something, at first she thought that it was her laptop, byt it felt a little smaller, she reached under her sheets and found a photo album, she remembered this, when she was about 5 years old, Luna decided to make an album to commemorate every tender moment of the kids' childhoods, she nearly forgot about it. Opening up, she flipped through a few pages until she stopped I one that made her heart stop a little. It was of her and Lincoln, it was taken by their mother when her parents first took him home from the hospital, he was just so small and pure, she just couldn't keep her hands away from him. He was her baby bro, and she loved him...right?

Wait, why was she questioning that? Of course she loved her brother, I mean if she didn't love him then she'd be a cruel, monster who'd do something like kick him out of the house.

...

Wait a minute.

"Kids!" their father called. "You, uh, might wanna come down here!"

The rocker and the comedian both glanced at each other with a curious look, the tone of their father's voice sounded serious, he would only get that way if something seriously bad happened, it he sounded like he was in pain and they heard a faint sobbing sound, but that couldn't be possible, Lincoln was nowhere in sight, they both thought that and yet somehow they felt a little cringe. It was a feeling of remorse, of guilt, but they didn't know why, as they descended downstairs along with the rest of their sisters, as they reached down, they saw police officers, they were standing in front of their parents and their current state was...concerning to say the least, their father, he was holding his head with an expression that made it look he just lived through getting hit by a car, and their mom was sobbing uncontrollably, her mascara was running out, and she was leaning into her husband's shoulder, she didn't want to see her kids like this.

"Mom. Dad." Lori said with a concerned frown. "What's going on?"

Lynn Sr. looked to his girls, he had a look of complete and utter sadness, he almost didn't want to tell them the horrible news the cops just shared with him and his wife, but they had a right to know. "G-Girls." he sniffled, his voice trembling. "These policeman told your mother and I that just a few hours ago, there was a shooting downtown, a mugger shot a young boy, point blank."

Most of the girls gasped in shock and horror at this, such a thing was extremely rare in their town, the only thing coming close to an actual heinous crime was that whole burglar epidemic, yet despite this, the oldest child was curious. "Like, that is literally super sad and all, but what does that have to with us?"

The family patriarch clenched his fists tight, what he was about to say would greatly affect them all, he almost considered keeping it a secret, but he knew that would only make things worse. And so he made his choice.

"The boy who got shot..." the father trembled. "...was Lincoln."

Anything could have happened, the entire house could have right on top of them, one of Lisa's experiments could have blown up right at that moment and maybe killed them all, Mr. Grouse could yell out a them and give another one of his complaints about them and their never ending commotion, heck, why can't some drunk drive his car right into the house and run a few of them over? It could better than this, hearing their father that Lincoln, their brother, their _only_ brother, was shot by some punk with a gun. Each of the sisters had a reaction. Lori shook he head, not wanting to believe this, tears were starting swell in her eyes, the eyeshadow she had was beginning to drip, and she dropped her phone, not caring if it got broken or not, for the first she was actually concerned about something other than that addictive device. Leni put a hand to her mouth, looking like she was trying to stop herself from losing her lunch, she knew what getting shot meant, it was one of the few things she actually understood, she's seen the scenes from movies and maybe a few newspapers, the though of her baby brother having been through something like that, she just couldn't bear to see it. Luna nearly lost her footing, the feeling inside that one that made her felt guilty before it was getting stronger, coupled with this news, se wasn't sure she could stand up, fresh tears were dripping from her eyes and she hung her head down with her eyes wide open. Luan couldn't think of a joke, how could she? There was nothing funny about this, a small part of her heart was beginning to break, she hoped, she prayed that this was all a joke, that her dad was just pulling on their legs and they would hate him for it, but it wasn't, this was real, this was all too real, and it was tearing her apart, and no amount of laughs were gonna fix it, maybe now she realizes laughing at things doesn't make anything better. Lynn stayed silent, she couldn't find the words, this was too much, she thought things would be better for her family with Lincoln not in the house, but no, she-she didn't want this, no, no things were supposed to be better! But she still lost that game even with Lincoln not being there, she backed away slowly and collapsed to the ground, she was starting to hyperventilate. and was beginning to cry. Lucy, as the goth of the family, she rarely ever shows emotion, she always pours her feelings out in her notebook full of poems, but she didn't have it, now the only way for her to express emotion was to actually do it for once in her life and shed tears. The twins, Lana and Lola, they had many difference, they had many fights in the past, but now they actually do have something in coming, shared horror, Lola nearly fainted, not like how she would do it just for being dramatic, but now it was actually for real, because this was something to faint about, Lana she was just speechless, her lips were quivering and she caught her twin for once they didn't fight, they just cried together. Then there was Lisa, the oh so gifted prodigy, like her gothic older sister, the little braniac could never express human emotion, she was super smart, why should she waste time in such trivial things like crying, smiling, or yelling out in anger, of course that's probably how she would put it, but now she wasn't holding anything back, her glasses became stained by her tears. Now little baby Lily, she was infant, she couldn't understand most things due to her age, but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of feeling sadness, now she didn't at first know why her big sisters and mommy and daddy were all sad, but it had something to do with her big brother, the words "shot" and "Lincoln" and she knew that crying was justifiable.

All the cops could was watch with sympathetic eyes, as the family took comfort with each other, but it wasn't enough to ease their shared pains, and they didn't know it, but soon, oh-ho very soon, this is just a taste for more heartache, more pain, and in the end the only ones to blame will be them.

* * *

 **If you think this was intense wait until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright people, here we have chapter 3, now let's what happens when the Louds realize just how awful people they are shall we? Also, Ronnie Anne will also make an appearance in this chapter, as will Clyde, and then, well see for yourselves.**

 **Oh yeah, I think I might throw in Pop Pop in the future.**

 **Don't forget to review. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ronnie Anne Santiago was a tomboy, she was brave enough to admit that, she did stuff that anyone that was single minded would never expect a girl to do, she would eat with her mouth open, she would get into fights, and she enjoys doing activities that boys her age would do, such as playing sports like soccer, and doing her most favorite activity, skateboarding, it always filled her with great joy and relief, but in recent years, the spicy little chica found herself something she loved even more than flipping through the air, she found a boy she fell in love with. It was back in first grade, she caught a glimpse of a little boy with a head full of white hair at the playground. At that that time, she was still young, so she couldn't quite explain the butterflies in her stomach that came when she saw him, so she did the only sensible thing, she threw mud at him.

...

Okay, maybe sensible is too good of a word. But it's not entirely her fault, she didn't know what else to do, Ronnie Anne has a reputation of being the toughest girl in her grade, boys and girls alike were afraid of her, to actually develop feelings for a boy would have made people see her as a stereotypical girly girl, so she kept on picking on the guy who captured her heart, Lincoln Loud. Her intention was that if she kept acting cruel and obnoxious to him, the feelings would just go away, but it was the exact opposite, she knew for a fact that her feelings for Lincoln were pure, but knew that due to her excessive bullying to him, he must think that she was just some bully out to make his school life miserable. Until, he actually walked up to her and kissed her right on the lips, even if she did give him a black eye, it was the beginning of a continuing romance, there were a few ups and downs, but they've really grown as a couple.

Her only wish was that they don't end up like their older siblings, who as luck would have it, were also seeing each other. Especially with the constant text conversations. But these past few days, she hasn't heard a single word from him, it started to make her worry, she tried texting him, but he wouldn't return any of her messages, she could only assume that it must have been something important. Her musings were cut short when she heard a commotion downstairs.

"Ai, mijo, we were worried sick about you!" she heard the concerned voice of her mother, Esmerelda.

Then, she heard her father, Roberto Sr. "Son, why did you not come home earlier? You said you would come straight back here once you were done with your job."

"Mami...Papi...I-It was-I saw-" she heard her older brother Bobby try to answer, the operative word being try. From the sound of it, he sounded haunted, almost traumatized. Curious, along with being concerned, the tomboy went out of her room and went downstairs, where she saw her parents try to console their only son. "Bobby?" she asked, making him to turn to her.

"Ronnie Anne..." he breathed with a panicked look. No, not now, it's...it's too soon, oh God, what can he say to her? He needed more time, to better prepare her, but she did have a right to know, but she's also still so young, he couldn't possibly just drop a huge bomb like this, especially to his own sister of all people. It wouldn't be right, oh God, why? Why did this have to happen? Why must he be the one to tell her news that would leave her completely heartbroken, if there's one thing he hates, it's seeing his little sister cry, now more than ever, considering he'll inadvertently cause it in some degree. But the rational side of him knew what was needed to do, and if she would hate him for telling her what happened to Lincoln, then so be it.

"Roberto." his father addressed, looking at his eldest child in concern. "What is the matter?" he urged his son to come forward.

Bobby knew it would be wrong to keep this a secret from Ronnie Anne, it was just he knew much Lincoln meant to her, he had a place in her heart that the she holds for the ones she loves the most, including her family, taking a deep breath, he made the hardest decision he ever had to do in his teenage life, he took a few steps until he was close enough to kneel down to her level. "Little Hermana," he began as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "There's-There's something I have to tell you."

One thing she also greatly dislikes is having to cry, especially if people can see her as she sheds tears, she considered it a sign of weakness, the one thing she doesn't want people to view her as, it shows that she actually can be vulnerable, that despite acting all tough and strong to others, even she can be subjected to sadness, it wasn't until now the only thing that did make her cry was someone saying mean things about her that would hurt her very deep, it would touch her inner sensitive side. But now she found something that would cause more pain inside her, for as she listened to what Bobby had to say, tears started to flow in her eyes. She wanted to punch him, she wanted to punch her brother in the face for what initially perceived as a cruel prank, until she saw the sincerity in his voice, along with his own tears dripping, that gave her the realization that he wasn't lying, Lincoln Loud, her boyfriend, the boy she loved her heart was shot a few hours ago. She ran into Bobby's arms as she cried into his chest, he returned the hug as he wrapped his arms around her.

Their parents, who also listened to Bobby's answer were horrified, and Esmerelda covered her mouth in shock, tears beginning to drip, while her husband sighed heavily with a solemn, dejected look, it took a lot for Roberto Sr. to show emotion, he always kept such a stoic face, yet the one thing that could break his steel will was seeing his little crying, both parents approached their children and joined them in a group hug, as their daughter shrieked in agony.

"Por favor..." she sobbed. "...Por favor dime que va a hacer que sea."

"Eso espero." Bobby whispered back to her as he rubbed her head with a comfort only a caring big brother can give.

* * *

Clyde Mc Bride used to be a very lonely child, as a very younger boy, before he ever met Lincoln, he was met with much scrutiny from kids and adults alike, mostly due to having two fathers, shortsighted fools would call him a product of an abomination, others would constantly tease him by saying that he's probably like his dads. As such, he didn't have that many friends, until one day at the park, he met Lincoln Loud for the very first time. At first, he was afraid he would be like the other boys, but surprisingly, the little white haired child actually made an attempt to make friends with him. Those two instantly hit it off, they both found that they had a lot in common, such as their shared interest in the Ace Savvy comics.

And thus, a beautiful friendship was born, both Lincoln and Clyde became an inseparable and helpful duo, in some aspects, they were like brothers in all but blood, although in some cases, well actually most cases, the bespectacled boy would accidentally make things awkward due to his immense crush on Lincoln's eldest sister, Lori. As much as Lincoln enjoys the boy's company, he could really do without the whole thing with him getting an instant nose bleed and fainting every time he's in close proximity of the teenage girl, and it's not just awkward because the fact that she's Lincoln's sister, but also because she's way older than him, and she has a boyfriend, who also happens to be a close friend of Lincoln's.

Yet, their bond of friendship never deterred, if one of them had a personal problem, they could always count on the other for moral support, and right now Clyde felt that Lincoln really needed it. Presently, he was in his room, sitting up and staring at up at the ceiling with a concerned look, his mind was contemplating on his last phone conversation with Lincoln, he was still shocked and horrified that the Louds actually kicked out Lincoln, just because they went all superstitious about him being bad luck, he hated to say it, but it kind of made his opinion of them a little low, even Lori. It wasn't just that, he also thought about Lincoln's whole rant about his family not loving him, not to mention that whole dying thing, it greatly made him worried about his friend's current state of mind. He wondered if Dr. Lopez could maybe talk with Lincoln.

His thoughts were cut short when he felt something furry brush against him, looking to his right side, he saw the second pet cat of the family snuggling on his arm, she looked up at her master with a concerned look, smiling, he rubbed its head affectionately, causing her to purr in response. "Hey Nepurrtiti, I'm fine, just thinking."

"Meow?" she inquired.

"Oh, it's about Lincoln." he told her with a saddened look. "See, he's kinda at a place right now, and I don't know if he'll be okay. I wish there was something I could do to help him, I'm his best friend, he'd totally do the same for me." he sighed. "I don't know, sometimes I think Lincoln can always find a way out of a jam with one of his famous master plans, so I don't think I can ever be that much help, except for being the supporting sidekick."

"Meow."

"Well, Linc's been having it pretty rough these past few days, and now it looks like its really starting to get to him. As his best friend, I really want to do all that I can to help him out, but I don't know, it's not like his family will take me seriously, I just wish I could be more of help you know?" he sighed. "I just hope wherever Lincoln was, he's okay." he moved himself from his sitting position. " Maybe something to eat will help out, I'll be right back." he got out of his room and was gonna head his way to the kitchen, until he heard what sounded like the Television. Curious, he went to the living room instead, and saw his dads watching. There was something in both of their expressions that made him concerned, they both had looks of shock and horror, and looked like they were about to cry.

"Dad, dad?" Clyde questioned. "What's going-" he cut his question off as soon as he saw what they were watching. It was a TV News live broadcast, but that wasn't what made his blood run cold, it was the topic of the broadcast, about a few hours ago, a boy was critically shot by a mugger, news like that would shock anyone, but for Clyde, it was heartbreaking due to who the boy was.

Lincoln Loud.

Back in is room, Nepurrtiti perked her head up as she heard the sound of crying.

* * *

Detectives Stone and Brookes moved from the crime scene and to the Royal Woods General Hospital, nurses and doctors were busy at work, the Loud boy was the first patient they had in weeks, so his presence caused a lot of commotion, especially given the state he was in, his injuries were quite severe, and very fatal, it was a miracle they were able to stabilize him in is condition, the detectives moved through all the employees, trying to find their way to the front desk, they needed to know where the boy was being held in, due to the information the Santiago boy gave them, they felt a need to see him while he was recovering here. During the drive, they got a call that the boy's family members were notified and were on their way right now, via police escort in the police cars, apparently their minivan got towed. They considered this good, not only did the family have a right to see him, but they actually were thinking asking the family a few questions. Stone asked the front desk lady first. "Excuse me miss, we need to know which room Lincoln Loud is in."

The nurse nodded. "You're in luck, they carried the poor boy to the ICU. He needed to be put into surgery immediately."

"Alright, thank you." Brookes replied as he and his partner made their way, but then turned back. "Oh, and if you see a man that is followed by maybe about 2 people, give or take, there's good chance that's the kid's family, tell them what you told us." he instructed.

"Will do."

Brookes and Stone walked up the stairs and found the ICU, they looked through the glass and saw the child hooked up to a heart monitor machine, and an IV, he looked deathly pale and was steadily breathing through a mask, he looked terrible, one thing they had in common was that in their eyes, no child should ever go through this, they're young, they have so much to live for, but that was just from their angle, God only knows how this might affect him mentally. Brookes turned to his partner. "You really think there might be more to this?" he asked, during the drive, they also had a conversation about the nature of this case.

Stone answered, but didn't take his eyes off the slumbering boy. "You heard that Bobby kid." the more experienced cop reminded his young partner. "From the sound of things, this maybe more than a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You know those gut feelings I have?" Brookes nodded. "Well, now my gut tells me there's a reason why this kid was out so late." he narrowed his eyes. "And I won't like it."

"We still gotta look for the bastard who shot him." Brooked pointed out.

"I know that, then I guess we'll just have to multitask."

As soon as they were done conversing with each other, they saw the doctor exit and they approached him, and he stopped as soon as he saw the cops. "Ah. Detectives, I was informed you were coming by, I'm Doctor Isaacs."

"Give it to us straight doc." Stone told him, ready for whatever answer he and his friend will get. "Is the kid gonna pull through?"

Sighing, the doctor was about to give them his diagnosis, but...

"Out of the way! Move it!" they heard a commotion coming from the stairs, soon enough about 12 people made their way up, 2 adults, 5 teenagers, 1 preteen, 3 toddlers, and a baby. Glancing at each other, they approached the family, they sure seemed to be in a hurry, also when it came to the family, they looked pretty messed up, almost like they just went to a funeral.

"Excuse me." Stone began as they both flashed their badges. "I'm Detective Stone and this is my partner, Detective Brookes, who might you all be?" he asked.

Looking the policeman in the eye, the man, who he assumed was the father spoke up. "I'm Lynn Loud Sr., these are my wife and kids we-we're here to see Lincoln." His expression turned pleading. "Please, tell us he's alright."

"Wait a second. These are all _your_ kids?" Brookes asked, pointing at each of the younger members of this little party with an incredulous look. Did the parents never heard of a thing called protection?

Rita scratched her hair nervously. "Yeah, we have a pretty big family." she shrugged, then adopted a worried expression. "Just please, tell us, how is my baby boy doing?" she pleaded with a desperate tone.

Brookes and Stone each gave a deep sigh, this was one of the hardest parts of being a cop. "Well." Brookes started. "We were just about to ask the doctor, look, maybe it's best if you and your family just-"

"Lincoln!" everyone turned to see an African American boy followed by two adult males.

"Clyde?" the Louds.

"I came here as soon as I heard about Lincoln!" the boy explained. "He's okay, right?!"

"Well-"

"Hold on." Lynn interjected. "How did you find out about what happened to Lincoln?"

The McBryde boy gave her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding? How could I not have?! It was all over the news! Everyone in town has probably seen it! Didn't any of you see it?!"

"Well, not really." Lori admitted sheepishly. "The TV was kind of on the frits."

"L-Lori-No!" Clyde surprisingly stopped himself from getting a massive nose bleed and fainting episode, there were more pressing matters to deal with right now. "Focus on your best friend, he comes first. Also, I'm not in the mood to speak with you right now. Any of you." he crossed his arms rather crossly, much to their confusion.

"Wha-?"

"Hey, get out of our way! Move it!"

"Slow down, little sis!"

Everyone stopped as they recognized those voices, especially Lori. Now, the most recent arrivals this time, are the Santiago family, which includes Bobby and Ronnie Anne, the former was trying to tell the latter to pace herself, both stopped as they made it upstairs, Bobby looked at his girlfriend in worry. "Babe!" he exclaimed as he moved hug her in comfort.

"Boo-Boo Bear!" Lori yelled a swell as she cried in his shoulder.

Ronnie Anne looked at the Louds with worry. "Where is he?! Where's Lincoln?!"

"That's what I wanna know too!" Clyde chimed.

"Everyone. Everyone!" Dr. Isaacs addressed, making them all turn to him. "Look, if you all would just calm down, I can give all of you the progress on Lincoln's condition." he told them, knowing not to question the knowledge and expertise of a professional in the medical field. "Good. Now, we were able to stabilize the boy's condition, in all honesty, it was a miracle we were able to save him in time, any second longer, and well, I wouldn't want to scare you all." he said with a grave tone. Everyone was relieved, for a moment, they were afraid that it was too late for him, but it was comforting too know he made it out mostly alive. "However, I should say that the injuries he's sustained were very fatal, so fatal that it seems that he's in a coma-like state, so I'm very sorry to say but, we're not really sure when he'll wake up."

Mostly the Louds gasped in shock, their concern for Lincoln skyrocketed, along with guilt for others. "Doctor, can we see him?" Leni asked with a pleading look.

"Hm, well, you can't go in the emergency room, but I suppose you can see him through the window." the doctor gestured them to said window, allowing Lincoln Loud's friends and family to see him in his injured state, they looked in frightened horror as they saw him on the hospital bed, completely void of all motion and his eyes were closed shut. Ronnie Anne pounded her fists at the wall and looked down as Bobby laid a hand on her shoulder a she placed his other arm around Lori, who was tearing up. Luna placed her hand against the class, heartbroken at the state of her little bro, Lola cried into Lana's shoulder, not bearing to watch her big brother like this, her twin whimpered and shut her eyes. Lucy hugged her shoulders and banged her head against the glass with a pitiful sigh, Lily, who was being held by Luan, whimpered and made a reaching out motion to her big brother, as if wanting to go to him or expecting him to rise up and come to her.

Clyde sheds some tears at seeing the closest thing he had for a brother in such a way, it wasn't fair, none of it was fair, Lincoln was his best friend, why did this have to happen? He didn't deserve this, this isn't his fault, it's...it's _their_ fault. He briefly casted a furious look towards the Loud family.

As for her jokester sister, she was trying to stop herself from crying, but this was one of those moments where she can't in no way find a bright side in order to make a joke, and get people to laugh. Leni quivered her lips and held her face, her legs felt like they could go off at any moment and she would breakdown and let out an anguish cry. Lisa tried to compose herself, she was among other intellectuals, she didn't want them to see her fall prey to human emotions, but for the first time, she acted like a 4 year old and weeped for her big brother. Lynn nearly lost her breath once she saw him; mentally, she was berating herself for not being there to save him, she was his big sister, she was supposed to protect him, she sobbed uncontrollably. Her father and mother held each other tight as Rita kept sobbing and repaetig the words. "No, no! Please God, no!" she continued crying. Lynn Sr. was doing as much as he could to help his wife, and yet, he too was crying over this, his own son. His boy. Was close to death. This never would have happened if...

A feeling of dread swarmed over him, along with this wife and daughters, they all came to a unanimous realization, one that made them all feel so horrible about themselves.

This tragedy never would have happened if they...

If they hadn't...

If they had just let him back in...

At the same time, they all thought of four words.

 _'What have we done?'_

Stone and Brookes merely watched in a sullen silence, it was best to let the loved ones of this poor boy grieve, they can only do so much, although, whle Brookes looked at them with sympathy, his partner on the other hand, was closely inspecting the Loud family members, almost like he was looking for any other reaction besides their shared lament. He found instances of their physical reactions, one being if guilt. But for what exactly? After a moment of silence, he moved to the parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Loud, I know that this is a difficult time for you, but we need to ask you a few questions. Is that all right with you two?"

Both parents stared at each other fearfully, they had an idea one what these officers wanted to ask them. At first, they might try convince them that they didn't have anything to say, but they knew that they had to face the reality of what they've done, and so they shall. "O-Of course, officer." Lynn Sr. nodded with some hesitation. "But can we just stay a little while longer? Please, he's our son."

Brookes and Stone looked to each other and took this into consideration. "Fine." Stone conceded. "But we will have a talk."

"I don't believe this dudes." Luna shook her head. "I just can't." she shut her eyes tight.

Leni placed herself in front of the window. For two times, she knocked on the glass. "Linky, please wake up." she begged. "Can you hear us?"

"That won't help at all Leni." Lori chided, wiping away her tears. "You heard the doctor, he-." she gulped. "He won't be waking up anytime soon." she choked that sentence out.

"B-But. he has to wake up!" Lola cried. "If he doesn't, then I'll tell dad that-, I mean I would-I would-I don't know! I just want him back!"

"I don't get it." Ronnie Anne spoke up, crying at the sleeping form of her boyfriend. "I just don't get it. Why was he out? Why wasn't he at his home?" she kept asking. The Loud sisters flinched at seeing her ask those questions, for they knew exactly why, but didn't have the courage to admit, the guilt was too much for each of them to bear alone, they tried finding comfort in each other, but it did little to quench their remorse.

"Funny you should say that, Ronnie Anne." Clyde spoke up, making everyone turn to him with curious looks. "Because, if you wanna know why he was out so late, well why don't you ask _them_?" he sent a look of contempt to each of the sisters, even their surprise.

Ronnie Anne stared at the nerdy child quizzically, then at the sisters. "What are you talking about, McBride?"

"Y-Yeah Clyde, I mean, we literally have no idea what you're talking about." Lori tried to defend her and her sisters, but failed as she darted her eyes back and forth.

"Babe?" Bobby raised an eyebrow. He recognized these mannerisms his girlfriend was showing, she would only get like this whenever she's hiding something super important.

"Don't play dumb Lori, you know exactly what I'm talking about." he narrowed his eyes. Honestly, the oldest Loud child was surprised, for as long as she's known him, Clyde never talked talk that way to her, the kid is so taken away by her, that no one really thought that it was actually possible, especially Lori herself.

"Clyde, maybe you should-" Harold tried to ease his son.

"Oh, what do you know, McBride?!" Lynn shouted, casting a glare at the boy. "It's not like you were there yourself!"

"You're right Lynn, I wasn't there, but before Lincoln got shot, we actually had a little talk over the phone." he revealed. "And he explained everything."

That made Lynn's furious scowl turn into one of dread. "E-Everything?" she trembled.

" _Everything_."

The jock shared her look of dread with the rest of her sisters, they all began to panic, he knew. Clyde knew everything, they should have known that he would, he is after all their brother's best friend, other than themselves, their parents, and Ronnie Anne, he was the only person Lincoln would share all his feelings with. Of course Lincoln would go to him, at the time, he had no one else to turn to, and now all will be revealed, and they can't do anything about it. "No? No one's gonna come out and say it?" Clyde waited patiently for one of the sisters to admit the horrible act that they along with their parents committed with no hesitation, no holding back, and up until now, no guilt. That may have been their last mistake. "Alright, fine, then I'll have to say it then. Just know, that you all brought this on yourselves. That this whole thing happened, because you girls and your parents had the gall, to throw Lincoln out of your house!" he shouted furiously for everyone present to see. His parents and the Santiagos all gasped in horror, while the detectives blinked in shock, Stone's face shifted into one of anger. They directed their attention to the sisters and parents of the Loud family, all they could do was look away in shame, not wanting to meet their judgmental looks.

"Lori." Bobby whispered, making her turn to him. The teenage boy looked at her with immense shock, not wanting to believe that his soulmate, the love of his life was capable of such a thing. "Is that true?"

Lori stayed silent, she didn't want Bobby to see her this way, or find out. What he must think of her. What they all must think of them. Disgust? Anger? Maybe even both? "We-We didn't mean for this to happen!" she cried, making her boyfriend's fears confirmed. "Bobby, you have to understand!" she tried to hug him, but he just stepped back, as if he was scared to make contact with her.

Ronnie Anne clenched her fists angrily. "Why?" she whispered with a growl, scaring a few of them, most notably the twins. Before anyone could blink, the Hispanic girl charged at Lynn and grabbed the collar of her shirt. "Answer me! Why?!" she demanded with an expression of anger and aggression.

"Mija, that is enough!" her father tried to dissuade his bad tempered daughter, but she was too out of control, plus a part of him may have intentionally failed to try and stop her, however he was able to pry her daughter off of the jock.

"Bad Luck." Leni spitted out, making everyone turn to her, tears of guilt were beginning to stream from her eyes. "We-We thought he was bad luck!" she sobbed. This caused everyone to form incredulous stares. That's it? That's why they did it? That's supposed to justify throwing out their son and brother? Pardon my language, but WHAT THE HELL?!

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud." Stones sternly addressed. "Can you also confirm this?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

Rita was too busy crying, so her husband spoke for both of them. "Yes, officers!" he choked out. "It's all true. All of it.."

Brookes sighed, as if things couldn't get any worse. "Well, I'm afraid we have no choice then." he said.

The father blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Stone looked to his partner, they both nodded, they knew exactly what needed to be done. Together, they went behind each parent and slapped the cuffs on them. "Lynn Loud Sr. and Rita Loud, your both under arrest." he told them making them widen their eyes in shock, along with their daughters.

"Wait a minute, why are you arresting them?!" Luan asked incredulously, her and her sisters voiced their complaints and outrage.

"For the criminal charge of kicking out a minor who is under the age of 18." Stone explained. "What? Did you not know that was illegal?" he asked rhetorically. "Also, make yourselves comfortable girls, 'cause we'll be seeing you very soon as well once we're done with your parents, might need to question you all later."

"We...did something illegal?" Leni asked fearfully, she knew what happens to people who break the law.

"But-But, you can't take us now! What about Lincoln?!" Rita cried, not wanting to leave her son like this.

"Actually, I think this might be good for the kid."

"You both have the right to remain silent." Brookes proceeded to read them their rights. "Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you." the police detectives both lead the parents away from the emergency room, the other families stayed silent, some couldn't believe this was happening, others were satisfied, thinking justice was being served.

"Kids!" Lynn Sr. cried out. "Don't worry! We'll figure this out! Just-Just try not to panic!" he tried to assure them, but it was in vain as they watch their parents get hauled away in horror, they turned to one another, completely filled with fear. First their only brother gets shot and is now in the hospital, but their parents were just arrested, what they did to Lincoln was considered a felony.

Oh, may God have mercy on them for the trials ahead.

* * *

 **And BOOM! Drama bomb! I hope this was to your liking. Now, next chapter, well I'll leave it up to you guys to theorize what might happen.**

 **What Bobby and Ronnie Anne said:**

 **Ronnie Anne-Please tell me he'll make it.**

 **Bobby-I hope so.**

 **Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Previously, On Losing Him: Lincoln got shot by a mugger, his entire family, along with his close friends all visited him in the hospital, where he has yet to wake up. Clyde reveals why Lincoln was out so late, and when the Loud parents confirmed this to the police, they had no choice but to place both of them under arrest. Now presently, they will be interrogated by the detectives, while their daughters wait in the hospital.**

 **I have to admit, I was hoping the family realized how they were acting like real jerks, like the sisters in Cereal Offender, or the father in Vantastic Voyage, but no, all they did was give me ample reason to write this story, and honestly they shouldn't have cared if Lincoln was just giving them an excuse to back inside, he's still their son and brother, that should be more than enough. Sometimes, I think the parents actually were planning on getting rid of Lincoln an just came up with an excuse of their own in Ties That Bind.**

 **Anyway, don't forget to leave reviews. Enjoy!**

* * *

The Royal Woods Police Department. Like all precincts all over the country and world, its primary job is to bring all law offenders to justice, ever since the shooting of poor Lincoln Loud, Captain Jenkins had everyone work overtime, trying find all that they could about the sick son if a bitch that actually pulled a gun out on the lad. The best that they had was that the bastard was wearing a blue bandana to cover his face, along with one witness claiming that he had brown eyes, though he was covering his head with a hood, one swore that she saw a tinge of black hair on it, so now they worked to find anyone who could fit that description, Jenkins overlooked everyone, making sure they were all doing their jobs, and not just slacking off like pigs. As he was checking on everyone's progress, he noticed Detectives Stone and Brookes walking in with an adult male and his wife, he saw they they had both of them in handcuffs, after asking who those two were, he found out that they were the parents of Lincoln Loud. Now, normally. he would reprimanded them for this, but then they told him the reason why they were under arrest.

Which, luckily was ample reason enough to allow them to take the adults into the interrogation room, it was mostly dark, only one light was present, fueling the shared nervousness of both parents. Lynn Sr. was beyond scared, this was the first time he's ever been arrested under a crime that he truly was responsible for, in the past, he always obeyed the rules and the laws as his parents once taught him, oh how disappointed they would be to see their son like this, the father of the Louds tried to compose himself, but he was close breaking down. As for Rita, as much as she was terrified like her husband, a part of her can't help but feel that this what they deserve. Before them, were Stone ad Brookes, ready to question them, Stone looked at them as if he were staring at complete monsters from hell.

"So." Stone began. "Stop me if I miss anything. Lincoln Loud, your son, your only son, was out at a time where kids his age should've been at their homes, safe and sound. During that time, a mugging takes place, the son of a bitch grabbed a woman's purse and he bumps into your kid. And shoots him." Both parents flinched. "Now, we know why he was out at that time of the day, he kicked by out his parents and his sisters." he narrowed his eyes. "So, am I all caught up?"

Lynn Sr. nodded a bit reluctantly. "Y-Yes detective, that's about the gist of it."

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud." Brookes took over, sounding more sympathetic than his partner. "I know both of you would rather be at the hospital right now, but we have to do our jobs. Now, you understand that the act of kicking out a minor and leaving him out in the harsh outside world is a major crime, you know that, right?"

"We do." Rita replied. "At least, now we do."

"So what your telling us is that you had no idea that it was illegal?" Stone surmised with a disbelieving look.

"But, how could we have known?" the husband defended.

Stone put a finger to his chin, and hummed in thought. "Hmm, good question. Maybe you could have known, because everyone knows that it's a major felony!" he slammed his hands down on the table, startling the parents. "You honestly expect me to believe that you had no clue that evicting your own child was illegal?! Come on, try and at least be convincing!"

"Hey, Abe, cool it." Brookes tried to calm him down, but Stone wasn't done.

"That kid is clinging to his life right now, he got shot by some punk because his parents and sisters just kicked him out! All this could have been avoided if you had just let him back in or better yet, never have kicked him out at all! So, why didn't you let him back?!" he only got silence as his answer. "Answer me, damn it!" he roared.

"Abe!" Brookes addressed. "That's enough!" his partner continued to give death glares to the parents who could only look way. "Let me handle this." the elder cop hesitated, but allowed his fellow officer to take over. "Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Loud. Back at the hospital, that McBride boy, Clyde, he said that apparently you kicked him because you, along with your daughters, all saw Lincoln as bad luck."

Rita nodded with a look full of shame. "Yes, that was the main reason."

"Right." Stone scoffed. "Because that is a good enough to leave your child out to die." he spat.

"Abe." Brookes warned, then turned his attention back to the Louds. "Now, I apologize for my partner's attitude, but I am gonna share with his sentiment, you really thought that was a justifiable reason to just throw one of your children out?"

"it's just-It-It all started when one of our daughters lost one of her baseball games!" Rita choked. "She blamed it on Lincoln for being there,, kept going on and on about him being bad luck, so then, more bad stuff started to happen whenever Lincoln was around us, so we figured she may have been right, and maybe-" she started cry. "-maybe things would be better for us if he wasn't around at all, so we just told him to stay home, and not come with us when we go out, then we just-we just threw him out!" she cried, completely hating herself for saying such a sentence and for agreeing to go along with it in the first place. She covered her eyes and kept whimpering. "Oh my baby, my baby, what have we done?"

Although Brookes had a low opinion of them for what they did, he still couldn't help but pity them a little, at least they gad the decency to feel guilty about all of it. "So, you never once thought about letting him back inside? He never tried to beg or plead?"

Lynn Sr. nodded. "Actually yeah, he-he claimed that he staged everything himself."

Brookes raised an eyebrow. "Explain.

"He used a megaphone and told us that he was spreading the rumor about him being bad luck on purpose, that he was doing it so that he could free time all by himself."

"And did you believe him?"

Lynn Sr. sniffled. "No. We didn't." he sobbed. "We just thought he was making up some excuse to come back in."

"It shouldn't have mattered." Stone spoke up.

"Abe-"

"It shouldn't have mattered if it was an excuse or if it was the truth, he was still your son." Stone stated. "Your supposed to care for him, to love him, your actions however, speak otherwise." he gestured Brookes to follow him. "We're going back to the hospital, gonna pick up all your girls."

"Wait, no!" Lynn Sr. pleaded. "They're just kids, don't bring them into this!"

"Sorry." Brookes apologized. "But, they were a part of this, so they also need to be questioned regardless of age, well except for the baby though, I think we can all agree that it would be pointless to ask her any questions. You have anyone who you could maybe call to babysit the little tyke?" he asked.

"Well, there's the kids' great aunt Ruth." Lynn Sr. suggested, but soon dismissed it. "But she's away on vacation. Besides, she doesn't like having Lily over."

"There's also my dad, Albert, their grandfather." Rita offered. "He's available, but it might take a while to reach him, he lives in a nursery home, the woman who works there is kind of strict."

Stone scoffed. "Then, she hasn't met a policeman before." he said as he and his partner went out of the interrogation room, leaving the Loud parents alone with their thoughts. Both parents were completely devastated, after looking back and hearing what they both said to the police, they realized that they haven't helped their case out in the slightest. Both Stone and Brookes were right, Lincoln was their only son, and they just kicked him out as if he were some stray animal they took care of, until they decided that it was fine on its own. More importantly, they were parents who put following their own supersitions ahead of thinking of the safety of their child. It really says a lot about them as parents, moreover as people.

"Oh Lynn." Rita sniffled. "Why didn't we let him back in? Why did we even kick him out to begin with? He's our baby." she looked down. " _My_ baby. What were we thinking?"

"I don't know, Rita." Lynn Sr. replied. "I just don't know."

* * *

Back at the hospital, the air was a rather tense feeling, after seeing the patriarch and the matriarch get hauled off by the police, the doctor informed the sisters along with the two visiting families to go in the waiting room, everyone was silent for most of the time, no one dared to say a word, less they want to spark a confrontation. The Loud sisters were anxious, as if seeing their parents get arrested right in front of them wasn't bad enough, but soon those same cops will be coming back, and they'll bring all 10 of them to the police station. As they waited, Lori sent a few glances to Bobby, who just looked away, not wanting to look her in the eye right now, evident that he's not in the mood to talk with her. His sister, Ronnie Anne, along with Clyde sent death glares at each of the sisters. Both children held each of them along with their parents responsible for the current state right now, the only thing stopping the Santiago girl from pummeling each of them right now, was that they were at a hospital.

After what seemed like forever, the silence was broken by the second oldest Loud sister. "Guys?" Lana addressed her sisters. "Is it true? What those guys said, was kicking Lincoln out against the law?"

Lisa cleared her throat. "Well, as it pains me to not realize it before, but yes, Lincoln is a minor. As such, the act of evicting him from the house apparently is a criminal offence." she surmised.

"But Lincoln's not a miner." Leni pointed out. "I've never seen him work in a tunnel before."

Lori sighed. "No Leni, _minor_. M-I-N-O-R." she clarified for her younger, yet denser sister. "It means he's under the age of 18."

"Are we gonna go to jail?" Lola whimpered.

"Hey, it's okay little dudette." Luna soothed. "I'm sure our 'rents will take care of things." she assured her.

"Jail's too good for you." Ronnie Anne spat, surprising them, it wasn't until now that she decided to voice her thoughts. "If anything, you all deserve worse." she scowled venomously making them flinch, though Lynn decided to have none of it.

"Will you just get off our cases, already?!" the sports fanatic demanded. "We get it! We screwed up big, we know that, okay?! We know that if we hadn't been mindless idiots, this wouldn't have happened!" she cried out.

"Even so, this all started with you, Lynn." Clyde stated, joining in on the conversation. "Lincoln told me this all started when you blamed him for losing one of your baseball games, just for being there. Then, you all started to turn against him too."

"W-Well, it was because whenever he was around us, bad things always started happening." Luan defended.

"So what? That's supposed make it okay to just kick him out?" Clyde demanded. "You never once thought about letting him back in?"

"We would've if we had just listened to him." Lucy lamented. "Lincoln told us that he supported Lynn's rumor of him being bad luck on purpose, that he staged everything up to make it seem like he was bad luck, so that he could more time by himself. And I am ashamed to say that we didn't buy it, we thought he was just giving us an excuse."

"What if it was the truth?" Clyde glared.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, when I called Lincoln, he also told me about that, what you just said, that he was faking all of it." Clyde informed them.

"What? But why would he say that to you?" Lisa questioned. "I mean there would be no point in telling his best friend something like that, unless..." the prodigy child went silent as she came to the conclusion, one that increased her guilt even more.

Clyde pressed. "Unless..."

Gulping, Lisa finally replied. "Unless, it was the truth." she breathed in realization.

Her sisters' eyes widen in surprise, for once it actually made sense in some way, Clyde was their brother's best friend, he had no reason to lie to him of all people. "Wait, so Lincoln really _was_ making it seem like he was bad luck?" Lori asked.

"Yes. He did." Clyde nodded. "And before you start blaming him, which seems to be all your good for, but look at it from his eyes. All Lincoln wanted was more time by himself, are you really gonna judge him for that? He's a boy outnumbered by 10 sisters, I used to think that was pretty awesome. but now I know why he wanted it. You all can't tell me that none of you thought about maybe wanting more time by yourselves, to get away from all the challenges that come from being in a big family."

None of them could argue with the nerdy boy, because what he was saying rang a lot of truths. They were part of a big family, bigger than most of families in the world, and of course, there always comes a time where they are so invested in each other's lives, that they sometimes wish for just one single moment by themselves. Lori wished that she would get through one text conversation with Bobby without a hitch, Lola wished her polar opposite twin wouldn't disrupt one of her pageant training sessions, each of the sisters would do anything to get some time alone, now they know Lincoln felt the same way. What's more tragic, is that now they realize that they kicked their only brother out for nothing, all because they put believing some stupid superstition ahead of the welfare of their only brother.

Wow. _Great_ sisters, right?

"So what?" Bobby spoke up, mildly startling them.

"Bobby?" Lori questioned in surprise, as relieved as she was that her boyfriend was talking, the tone of his voice suggests that it wasn't so that he could say that he forgives her.

"So what if what Lincoln told you all was the truth or not?" Bobby began as he turned to her and the rest of the sisters with a stern and stoic glare. "It shouldn't have even mattered at all, he was till your brother, he was still your blood. Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, your all his older sisters, your supposed to watch out for him, no matter what happens, he's your responsibility. If it were me, I would never have just wrote Ronnie Anne off as just bad luck, what kind of person would do that to their younger sibling? I never would have imagined you of all people would do something like this, Lori." he said with sincerity, along with disappointment.

The older sisters didn't give any reply, but they did consider his words, and he was right. They knew from the very moment Rita gave birth to Lincoln that it would their job to make sure could ever come to him, and they failed in the worst way possible. Footsteps were soon heard from the stairs, Detectives Brookes and Stone came into view, much to the shared dread of the sisters, they went over to them with stern looks. "Alright kids, you're gonna have to come with us." Stone told them.

The sisters trembled with fear and anxiety, but nevertheless knew that it would only make things worse if they refused. Lori carried Lily, and one by one, everyone got up and followed the officers out of the room, Lori lingered a little while longer and gave Bobby one last glance, it was brief, but the teenage boy could tell from her expression that she truly was remorseful for her actions, but that didn't make things better between them. In fact, it may never be better ever again.

Had she stayed a little longer, she would've seen him shed a single tear.

* * *

"So, this is all you could find on the guy who shot the kid?" Jenkins surmised as he talked with one of his officers. While Brookes and Stone were interrogating the Loud parents and off at the hospital, he had been working with his people to uncover the information that they gathered. "Couldn't have gotten me a name? First or Last?"

"Sorry Captain, we didn't have that much to go on, other than the fact that whoever our perp is, he has to be dark haired, blue eyed, and is in the possession of a blue bandana. We could try to issue a search warrant all over the place, but that might take a while, considering what he did, the bastard might try to keep a low profile. Probably knows that we're on the hunt for him.

Jenkins could at least understand that, in the many years he's spent working as a policeman, he had to deal with felons who did everything they could to keep their actions quiet. Some would frame innocent people who happened to fit their description or they would only let their partner or accomplice hanging to take fall. In some cases, there was always the dirty cop who would be vulnerable to bribes, but he knew his fellow officers of the law, none if them could ever turn on the force like that. And more importantly, he'd rather turn in his position as police captain if some sick son of a bitch got away with shooting a defenseless child.

"Uh Captain? You might want to look over there." the officer pointed to where they both saw Brookes and Stone walk in the about 10 young girls with them, they must be the Loud sisters that both of them informed him of earlier, at first he couldn't believe that two parents could have that many kids, but now he saw it with his own eyes. It was fortunate that they had more pressing matters to deal with, otherwise it would be a whole day of trying to figure that out.

"Brookes. Stone." Jenkins nodded. "These the Loud daughters?" he asked, looking at each of them. He once worked a few years as a detective, he retained some skills from that tenure. One being powers of observation, he could plainly see that each of them were full of fear and anxiety from being in a police station, almost as if they just arrived in a prison.

"Yep." Brookes nodded. "Abe and I are gonna take them to their parents, then we're gonna do what we can to figure out this whole mess. How's the search for the bast-" he stopped himself as he remembered that there were kids present at the moment. "I mean, the punk who shot Lincoln?"

Jenkins sighed regrettably. "It's a work in progress at the moment. Do what you can with the Loud family, we'll do whatever we can here.

Both detectives gave a nod in response to their Captain. "Alright, but you might wanna call the Royal Woods nursing home, ask for a guy named Albert, he's the only one available to take care of the baby." then they guided the sisters to follow them, as soon as they got to the door, they opened it. Behind it were their parents.

"Mom! Dad!" they all rushed to hug them.

"Oh, kids!" the parents happily returned the hugs, glad to see their children, but it definitely could have been better if Lincoln was with them.

Then, Brookes called out. "Excuse me, everyone." he said, making them all turn to him. "Now, usually at this point, we'd try to question all of the family members at the same time. But in the past, those families have always been up to 4 to 5, since there's so many of you, we'll have to question each of you individually. Now, we already talked with your parents, so which one of you girls will go first?"

Each of the Louds stayed silent, they were afraid, and they had every right to be. Whatever they said could be used against them, but they knew that if any of them told a lie, that would just be plain stupid, their police detectives after all, they know when one of their suspects is lying, and lying to the police, well they can chalk that one up for their list of felons. After what seemed like forever, Lori walked forward. "I'll go, I'm the oldest."

"Lori, are you sure?" Rita asked in concern.

"It's okay, mom." Lori assured her. "It's okay."

* * *

 **Lori Loud**

The detective who took the first interview was Stone, he promised that he wouldn't be as intense as he was with the parents, but that didn't mean he'll pull any punches. The young girl was sitting before Stone, trying her best to stay calm as possible, the rest of her family were waiting outside, waiting until she was done. In some cases, she was afraid to look him in the eye, he had such an intimidating stare that it was almost devoid of mercy and restraint. "Okay, Lori." Stone began. "Answer me this one question, you can do that right?" he asked simply.

The teenage girl sighed. "Yes, sir."

"Okay now, do you love your brother?"

Lori blinked. "Wel-Yeah." she lightly laughed. "Of course I love him."

"Really? So, is kicking him out into the mean streets of this town your way of showing love?"

The blonde couldn't answer that question directly, she knew that it was a rhetorical question. "Detective Stone, I-I didn't mean for that to happen, I jus-"

"You just what? Thought it was the right move to make based on the _opinion_ of him being bad luck?" he finished for her in a scolding tone.

He watched as the teenager flinched in response, clearly beating herself up about that ridiculous reason. "I didn't know what I was thinking, I just didn't want another date with Bobby to get ruined, and I was scared that maybe he might embarrass me in front of some kids from school."

"That's still not good enough kid." Stone told her. "Look, your the oldest of the entire Loud sibling pack, that means you have a duty to your younger siblings. A responsibility to always watch their backs, same as your parents, you along with them should have known what you did was wrong, and you three were setting a bad example for the younger ones. I mean, for God's sake girl, your 17, right?" she nodded. "Then in about a year, you're gonna be 18. Legally speaking, you'll be an adult, at that point is when you need to be responsible enough to do the right thing."

Stone was right. Lori knew that, she was the oldest, and for as long as she could remember, all she's ever done was use that as an excuse to always get her way. She thought it gave her permission to just boss her younger siblings around because she had the power to do so, that everything good I life should only be reserved for the first born of the family. And now that she thought about it, Lincoln always did seem to get the worst of it, like when she would always get him to do some of the most grueling tasks, things that an 11 year old should never have to do in their young lives. Wow, it wasn't until now that she realized that at times, she can be a huge jerk to him for no reason. "I know. And you're literally right about everything, I should've known that kicking him out was the most hurtful that could ever happen to a person. And it absolutely never should it have been his own family to do it."

"So, you regret it?"

"Do I regret it? Of course I regret." she shook her head. "Lincoln's a good kid, sure he has his faults, but he was still my little brother, I should have been more responsible." her look then turned wistful. "When mom and dad brought Lincoln home for the first time after he was born, I admit, that I was really scared. Before he was born, I only knew how to deal with sisters, I was afraid that having a baby brother who wouldn't like me. But when I saw Lincoln, I just...he just looked so innocent." she sniffled. "And he didn't mind me at all, I knew from then on, that I had protect that innocence, that he needed a big sister who would always watch him closely and love him. Guess I forgot about that promise."

Stone stayed silent for the rest of it, he heard all needed to hear, now onto the next one.

* * *

 **Leni Loud**

Brookes decided that he should take the next one, that being the second oldest. Leni Loud, age 16, before now, one would call her the sweetest and caring among the sisters, she was also the emotionally fragile as well. She may not know much, but she knew it was appropriate to tremble a bit when she was inside the interrogation room. Brookes saw this, and knew that he should try the gentler approach, unlike his partner. "Okay, Leni was it? he asked gently, but he got no response. "Look, I know your scared right now, and I can understand that. I really can. But, things will progress smoother if you answer my questions, okay?"

Though a little hesitant, she nodded. "O-Okay mister."

Brookes smiled. "Good. Now, do you know why you and your family are here?"

The ditzy blonde gulped. "We kicked Lincoln out of our house, because Lynn said that he was bad luck. But, you said that it was illegal, right?"

"Yes." the detective nodded. "It is very illegal. Not a lot of people like it when someone does that, you know. Because now, the poor kid is in the hospital." he then sighed. "Look Leni, you seem like a sweet kid, you don't look like you have a mean bone in your body."

Leni gasped. "There's a thing called a mean bone?"

"What?" Brookes blinked in confusion. "N-No, that's just an expression. What I'm trying to say is that you don't seem like the kind of person who would treat their brother so cruelly. So why did you?"

Leni casted her head down, a dejected look adorned in her face. That was a really good question. Why did she take part in such a thing? She always cared deeply for Lincoln. "I-I don't really like know." she answered. "Look, I've always loved Linky, he's my baby brother! I would never hurt him on purpose! it's just, Mom, Dad, and Lori seemed to think it was okay, so I guess it must have been okay if they seemed to think so."

Brookes raised an eyebrow. "Hold on, you're telling me that because your older sister and your parents were okay with it, you immediately agreed to go along with it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean, they always seem to know what's best for everything, they're older than me. I would have voted no, but everyone else agreed too, so-" she sniffled. "I didn't want anyone to judge me!" she shrieked. "I knew kicking out Lincoln out was very mean, but they said that it would be better than having bad luck running around the house!"

"Hey now, calm down-"

"Please, can we leave now?! I wanna go back to Linky, I need to let him know how sorry I am! I would never really hurt him like some big meanie! Lincoln and I have always cared for each other ever since we were little, he would always help me with anything, whenever I needed it! I loved having someone like him to be my brother, and I wouldn't trade it for anything,! And I don't want him to remember me as some monster!"

"Leni, Leni!" he shouted, making her stop. "Just take deep breaths, and calm down." she followed his instructions, word for word. "Good. Look, I know you're worried about Lincoln, but I'm afraid until this whole mess sorted out, I think it would be best if you just stay away from him for a little while, things will progress a little less wild than right now."

The soft tone of his voice was enough to calm her down a little. "Sorry for blowing up like that." she apologized meekly.

"It' okay, perfectly understandable."

Leni hugged her shoulders. "Mr. Brookes, will we able to see Linky when he wakes up?" she asked.

Brookes sighed. "Honestly, I don't really know."

* * *

 **Luna Loud**

Next was the rock star sister, Luna. Brookes decided to go again this time, thought maybe some of them needed to talk to an officer that wouldn't make them cry. He and the teen sat in silence, the girl was obviously dejected, in more ways than one. It's funny in some levels, she always heard of musicians who've been arrested or faced the police ins some way, more than once, she just thought she wouldn't have the chance to experience it for herself, considering the fact she was still starting out. "So Luna. You holding up well?"

"Yes. No. I-I don't really know, dude." Luna replied, rubbing her temples. "I just-Things haven't gotten so heavy now. I-I just wish Lincoln would wake up right now."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Because, I want to let him know how sorry I-we all are." she explained. "This would never have happened if we weren't such boneheads to him."

Brookes nodded. "So you do feel responsible for what happened to your brother?"

"Heck yeah, man. I mean, he's my little brother, dude, it's impossible not to be." she looked away in shame. "But it's me who's forgotten to be his sister. Dammit, what were we thinking?"

"Look Pixie Cut, I'm just gonna get straight to the point. Exactly, how is your relationship with your brother like? Do you get along? Any arguments between you two that may have happened in the past?"

"You want me to be frank with you?" she asked, making him nod in response. "Thing is, I love him like crazy. I always have, ever since he was a baby and I was four, the two of us have been tight, you know? I always had his back, and he always supported my dream of making it big in the music business. If you want me to perfectly honest with you, Linc isn't just my best bro. He's practically my best friend." she looked down. "I don't wanna sound full of myself, but I kind always figured that I was the closest to Lincoln out of all the other sisters. The two of us just had that kind of bond, it's kinda hard to explain really. When he was a baby, I always sang him a lullaby whenever he went to bed, those were happier times. But now..." she hook her head. "I can't believe I called him bad luck, and that I sided with kicking him out. I screwed up dude, royally."

"I still can't wrap my head around that whole thing. I mean I've been in the jo for years now, and this kind of thing. Kicking out a kid, I've seen it happen a couple of time. But what makes this case different than the rest is the reason behind it, in the past cases, parents and families usually kick a kid out because thy don't want another mouth to feed, or they just don't love him or her. But you along with your family's reasoning, jus because you all perceived him as bad luck? I gotta admit kid, that's a new one."

Luna sighed. "Guess my fam and I have made history for kicking our boy out for a very stupid reason."

* * *

 **Luan Loud**

Soon after, it was Luan's turn to be questioned, and this time, it was Stone who took the reigns. The amateur comedian sat quietly, knowing full well that this was one of the times that cracking a joke or wisecrack would be the poorest move anyone would make, especially since there was a police officer in the same room with her. "Hey Luan, you're supposed to be the practical jokester of the family, at least that's what we heard from your family. Is that right?" Stone asked.

"Uh, yeah?" the 14 year old answered a little confused, not understanding why he would ask that.

"Then why aren't you cracking a joke right now?" the gruff officer asked in mock confusion. "I mean isn't that what you do? Just joke around? Never taking anything seriously? Laugh at pretty much anything? Like maybe laughing over your brother getting shot after you put him outside like an animal?"

"What?! No, I would never do something like that!" she defended with an aghast look, surprised this detective would even think of that."

"Oh? Well, see that is just funny. Because, you didn't seem to think that kicking your brother out of the house was a bad thing to do. So why not laugh away? From what I've heard, you seem to also laughing at not just your own jokes, but also when something happens to them. As a jokester, you probably pulled one or two pranks, get a big laugh over your family's misfortune. In your eyes, it's all fun and games until someone really gets hurt. And of all people, it just had to be your little brother."

The comedian sniffled at the mention of Lincoln. "Officer, I-I love Lincoln." she said with a hardened look. "I would never do anything that would hurt him that much."

"Is that right? Then I guess that means completely hurting him must have been a joke to you?"

"N-No! I would never laugh at him being hurt! Why would you say that?" she timidly asked.

"Just a wild guess. Isn't everything supposed one big gag for you?"

"Not everything!" the comedian argued. "Sure, I joke around a lot, I pulled a lot of pranks. Some that I admit, may have been a little too much, but that doesn't mean I don't love my family, and I definitely love my brother, buster!"

Stone raised an eyebrow. "Then why remove him from your house? His own house for that matter?"

Luan glanced away. "Look, I know what we did makes you think we don't love Lincoln, but we really do. You wanna know the reason why I decided to go into the whole comedy routine? Before Lincoln was born, not a lot of people were big fans of my comedy. Dad was the only one who liked them, but he's my father, it's kinda different. But my mom, Lori, Leni, Luna, and Lynn weren't exactly amused, sometimes I thought that if I can't get members of my family laughing, then what's the point? But then I saw Lincoln for the first time, I was nervous, because I didn't know how he would like me. Then when he looked at me, he laughed, there was something about his smile, his laughter that I guess was what made me continue to be the girl that I am today. All I ever wanted to do was make the ones I love smile, especially Lincoln." she hugged her arms. "Guess I can also make him feel sad, too."

* * *

 **Lynn Loud Jr.**

Stone once again took over the next questioning of a Loud sister, this time it was the one who when you think about it, was responsible for this whole mess that befell her family. The jock was sitting quietly, she hadn't spoken a word since she came into the room, Stone figured she could at least try to speak in her defense. "So Lynn, got anything to say?"

No response.

"Come on, aren't you supposed to be the tough girl? Not gonna say anything to save yourself?"

"There'd be no point." she glumly responded.

Stone's eyes lit up in surprise. "Oh, finally found a voice, huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Just look at the facts." Lynn replied. "We kicked Lincoln out of the house, we were happy while he was probably having a miserable time, and if I hadn't been ticked off for losing a game, he never would have gotten shot. This is all on me; do what you want with me man, I deserve it. But at least let the others off the hook, they're only guilty of following my lead."

This certainly surprised the detective, he was surprised over how much remorse the 13-year-old was showing, he would have expected her to insist that itt wasn't her fault. Sometihng else caught his attention. "You said something about losing a game." he noted. "Care to elaborate?"

Lynn sighed, but complied nonetheless. "I play for a softball team called the Squirrels, we had made it to a huge, important game with our rival team, and I wanted Lincoln to come along, but when he said he didn't want to, I just forced him to come. Then I lost the game, and I blamed him just for being there, he never attended my games before that, and each time I never lost, so I actually thought he was the problem." her eyes started to water, guilt was starting to build up inside. "I called him bad luck, and that gave him the stupid idea to spread the rumor."

"I'm sorry, you forced him to come?" he asked. "How, exactly?"

The jock turned away for a moment. "I threatened him with a baseball bat." she clenched her fists.

"With a bat?" Stone questioned in disbelief. "So you were gonna beat him just for not attending your game?"

Lynn shook her head. "No! No! I would never do that!" she insisted, facing him with a heated glare, allowing him to see the tears in her eyes. "Okay, I just used that as incentive for him to go!"

"Really? SO what you were you trying to do? Fill him up with fear? Is that what you want? For your brother to be scared of you?"

"No! I just-I just wanted him to come to my game, alright?!" she yelled. "You know what's even more messed up, I had another game, and I still lost! Lincoln wasn't there, so I guess that now nothing could make me lose, but I still did! What does that tell you?!"

"It tells me that you are arrogant." he stated. Then he sighed. "Look kid, from what I understand, you must quite the athlete. But that's the thing with athletes, they are so arrogant, they can't admit to themselves that their losses are their own fault. Blaming Lincoln for losing your game only makes you petty." he told her. "Honestly, I know you sports types tend to be brash, but I didn't think you would go as far as to hurt your brother like that!"

"I told you, I would never hurt him!"

"Oh really?"

"yes, because I'm his big sister, and I protect him!" she stated. After a moment of silence, she calmed down. "Ever since he was born, I've always protected him from anything. One time when I was 5, and he was 3, we were playing at the park. Lincoln wandered off and got picked on by older boys, I never felt so mad in my life. I completely went savage on those creeps, sure I got grounded, but I didn't care, just as long as Lincoln was okay. I've been saving Linc from anything that may hurt him. Guess I didn't realize that there was someone I could never save him from. Someone who no matter how hard I tried, I could never protect Lincoln from her."

"And who would that be?"

Lynn gazed at her hands with anger and guilt. "...me."

* * *

 **Next chapter will have the younger sisters. Tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay first off, let me just say, WHOOOOOOO! This story got added to the Fanfic Recs section of The Loud House TV Tropes page! I mean, oh my god! I still can't believe it. I mean this is like my first story ever to be featured on that site. Next thing you know, this story will have its own Tropes page, but let's not get too ahead of myself. I am just so proud. Thank you TerrorKing10 for recommending this story, I really appreciate this man.**

 **Hope you guys are all ready for chapter 5 of this dramatic tale. Last we left off, the detectives interviewed the parents and the older sisters, now we'll see them ask the younger members of the pack. Except for Lily, of course. Because you know, she's a baby. Which would just be ridiculous.**

 **Don't forget to leave reviews Enjoy!**

* * *

Albert, the elderly and kind old man had always been a calm and patient man, ever since the war, he's learned to take things slow and try to wait and let things go its own way, in its own path, but in this instance, that was surely not the case; hours earlier, Albert was enjoying a relaxing time with his friends at the Royal Woods nursing home, though Ruth was a strict pain as per norm, it was a nice day and he couldn't think of anything that could ruin it, that is until he watched the news. Now, he was enjoying his evening shows, but he and his friends were quite shocked to hear of the shooting of an 11-year-old boy, what was even worse, that it was his own grandson.

So he spent the last hours trying to call the police and the hospital, with minimal luck.

"Dang it!" he scowled, slamming the telephone down for the umpteenth time. "That's the ninth time those guys told me to leave a message! I want answers, and I want them now!"

"Take it easy Albert." Scoots said, rolling over to him on her rascal. "Those doctors and policeman are probably busy at the moment, just be patient. You're starting to act like that great nephew of mine."

Albert turned to her with a furious and sour look. "Excuse me for wanting to know my grandson is doing Scoots!" he scowled. "Maybe when one of your grandkids got shot by some young bastard and is barley clinging to life, you might understand!"

Seymour moved to calm the elder down. "Woah now, take it easy their Al. Look, we all know this a very hard time for you right now, but as your friends we just want you to calm down. Besides, with the way you are now, you might collapse at any second." he warned the man, which was enough to get Albert to calm down a little.

He took small deep breaths to ease the stress that was running through his system. "You're right, you're right." he sighed. "Sorry Scoots, I just can't believe this." he shook his head. "Lincoln. My only grandson." the old man started to shed some tears. "When I find the son of a bitch that did this, he'll regret messing with my family." he clenched his fist in quiet rage.

"No offense Al, but you're not exactly fit to take on anyone." Bernie chimed in. "When's the last time you were actually in a fight."

"I fought on the front lines, didn't I?" Albert reminded him. "Might not be as young as I was, doesn't mean I forgot all the basics."

The other senior citizen among them, Scoots approached him. "I know you don't want what happened to your grandkid to go unpunished, but seriously, you should leave this to the professionals."

All Albert could do was turn away with a scowl.

"I still can't believe it." Seymour shook his head in disappointment. "Some lowlife punk pulling a gun out on a defenseless kid. Back in our day, there wasn't anything like that."

"In my opinion, I blame mob mentality." Bernie said.

His fellow seniors looked at him strangely. "What does mob mentality have to do with all this Bernie?" Seymour him.

"I honestly have no idea." Bernie admitted. "Just got a feeling."

It was then that Scoots noticed something coming in the driveway. "Hey fellas, check it out." she called her friends to look out the window and they did so seeing a vehicle drive up.

"A police car?" Seymour observed before turning to the old woman. "Scoots, what did you do now?"

"Hey now! What makes you so sure it's here for me?" Scoots snapped.

"You're the only one of us who regularly breaks the law." Bernie replied.

But Albert had a different feeling, there was something in his mind that was telling him that there was more tot his police visit than he and his friends think; one of the doors opened up and out came two policeman and they saw them enter into the home. After a few minutes of silence, they heard Sue's voice through the intercom.

 _"Albert. Please come down here."_

Scoots turned to Albert in surprise. "They're here for you?" she asked. Truthfully, she did indeed assume that the police were here for her.

"I must be about Lincoln." Albert deduced with a stoic look. He went out of the room and made his way to the front lobby, with the rest of the senior citizens exchanging worried and concerned looks.

* * *

When Albert arrived at the lobby he saw the two officers in front of Sue. "You wanted to see me?" he asked, referring to the officers.

The first officer walked up to him. "We need you to come with us, we understand that you're the grandfather of the Loud kids."

The elder man nodded. "Well you would be right sonny."

"Good, because we need you come with us to the police station, it's where the rest of your family are at right now The parents said that you're the only other adult who can watch over the kids for the time being."

"Really?" Albert asked in slight surprise. "Kinda thought they'd go with the kids' great aunt. My sister, Ruth."

"We got word that she's on a vacation or something. It involves cats from what I hear."

Sighing, the old man shook his head. "Of course she is." Classic Ruth. "Alright then." he turned to Sue. "Don't suppose you'll stop me from going." he glowered lightly, ready to argue with the nurse if she objects.

She in turns glares at him. "You're just lucky I can't say not to a policeman."

Albert waved her words off. "Yeah, whatever." he said as he followed the officers outside and went off in the car.

* * *

"Alright, we've gone through the oldest siblings of this messed up family. Now we go on to the young ones." Stone said as he and Brookes were in the room, ready to continue with their little talk with the Loud family. It has progressive, they now know why the young boy Lincoln Loud was out at such a late hour, he got kicked out. By his own family. So yeah, it was safe to say that hey were all in pretty deep shit, coupled with the guilt going through their minds, this is just heartbreaking.

"Yeah, um say, don't you think we could stop while we're ahead?" Brookes suggested.

"Excuse me?" Stone inquired, as if that was a stupid question.

"Look, we already have enough talk from the parents and the older kids, but do we really need to talk to the younger ones?" his partner told him. "Some of them aren't old enough to sleep without a nightlight. One is freaking 4. What we should be doing is trying to find the sick bastard who pulled the trigger."

"We will find him, that I promise you." Stone swore. "And age doesn't matter." Stone said sternly. "They were involved with kicking out a minor, therefore they are accomplices to a crime. You know very well anyone who has any sort of hand in committing one are liable to be interrogated."

"I do know that." Brookes replied, sighing in frustration. "It's well. It's you partner."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Brookes rubbed his head, trying to figure out a way to make what he was about to say less offensive to him. "Look, it's just that whenever we get involved in a case involving child abuse and endangerment, you tend to go a little...overboard."

"So what? You want to go soft on pricks who push around kids?" Stone demanded.

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all." Brookes told him. "You just never seem to keep control your emotions especially when it comes to the perps,. Do I really need to remind about that one case 2 years back, with that little girl we found badly beaten in the street and you nearly gave a concussion to the guy who did it."

"He deserved worse." Stone muttered darkly with narrowed eyes.

"I agree with you there, but you're acting the same way with this family. Now, I'm not gonna lie, I'm about as pissed off as you are about what they did. But you've seen them." he pointed out. "They obviously feel guilty about his whole mess, and from what I heard from behind the glass, you were a bit hard on the girls."

"Those kids and their parents kicked out their only son and brother just because they were under the ridiculous superstition that he was bad luck. The worst part is it was for nothing, since the kid was faking it." Stone reminded him. "I'm doing my job Mat, I'm making sure that they understand just how much they've royally screwed up. It comes with the job."

Brookes folded his arms. "You know what I think? It's about more than just the job." he stated.

"What are you on about now?"

Sighing, Brookes slowly walked up to his partner. "Abe." he started somberly. "I know how this particular case affects you." Stone turned away. "I know what happened to you when you were a kid. About what your parents did to-"

"Don't." Stone snapped bitterly with a face full of anger. "Just don't." in h the veteran detective's mind, images of the past started to come in. Memories. Painful Memories.

A little boy huddled into a corner with a look of terror and tears escaping his eyes.

Two figures, one male and one female hovering over him threateningly. The man had a crowbar.

Then the boy is thrown violently from a car, into the street, left alone to fend for himself.

After a moment of silence. Stone turned to Brookes. "I don't need you, my partner to question how I do things. We will continue the questioning. End of story." with that, the gruff cop went into the room where the Louds were waiting.

Brookes shook his head and followed. _'Ah Abe. That's what partners are for. That's what friends are for.'_

Both detectives went into the room where the Louds were waiting. "Alright Louds, we're finished with the oldest siblings. Now to move on with the young list. I'll be questioning this time." Brookes told them, casting a stern look to Stone. "Now, next up we have Lucy correct?"

Said goth girl walked forward. "Yes sir." she responded. "That's me." her voice sounded as monotonous as usual, but you should see how she is inside.

"Come on kid. Let's get this over with."

* * *

 **Lucy Loud.**

The poetic child sat quietly in her chair, she was waiting for the detective to make his first question. If there was one thing about this little girl, is that she rarely shows true emotion, except for the when she first learned about what happened to her big brother. She experienced a lot of pain, and she didn't like that pain, so she was trying to keep her emotions in check. "Alright Lucy, I hope this isn't overwhelming for you." Brookes said.

Lucy just shrugged. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it." she told him.

Brookes knew what she was doing, she was pretending to act all emotionless to save herself from the pain of this incident, but in reality he knew the truth, she was a dam that was almost his close to bursting. It was the matter of when it will happen. "If you say so. So, I wanna know something. Exactly, how do you interact with your brother?"

Lincoln. He was talking about Lincoln.

The gothic child's hands trembled a little, but quickly stopped herself before he could notice, which proved to be a failure as he took note of her action. After a while, she began to speak. "At home I usually appear to be depressed, but I honestly do care for my siblings."

"Does that include Lincoln?"

Lucy gulped. "Of-Of course. He's my big brother. I love him very much." the tone in her voice went from bland to slightly emotional. "I often think that no one else understands my need to express my dark emotions in my poems. I think that no one else in that house understands how I feel. But if I have to be honest, Lincoln always seems like the person who understands me."

"Is that so?"

She nodded, fondly remembering stories that her parents told her of when she was younger and Lincoln tended to constantly fawn and dote over her when she was a baby, because she was basically his first baby sister. "He always helped me with my poems, in fact he's the only one who helps me with them. He's always been dependable like that."

"If that's true then why did you kick him out?"

Lucy flinched at the question. "I...I...don't know how to answer. No, I mean I do know but it might be confusing to you."

"Enlighten me."

"Well, you might find this a little strange, but I happen to be an avid fan of...supernatural things." she told him.

"So, you're superstitious."

Lucy looked down dejectedly. "Sigh. It's true. I spend so much time with paranormal items that I believe in every kind of curse or enchantment."

"So it was easy for you to decide that Lincoln was bad luck and that him getting kicked out, which was illegal I might add, was the best option for you and your family?"

Lucy took note of the detective's tone, and she knew when he puts it like that it completely sounds ridiculous. "Detective...I-I know what was completely heartless. And nothing will ever excuse me or my family for it, no matter what. But I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking, I admit that superstition and assumptions have influenced most of my life, but I always try to not let that get in the way of my personal relationships. Especially when it came to my family."

"Until now." Brookes pointed out. "Look kid, you don't have to keep it in." he told her.

She stammered her next sentence. "Wh-What are you talking about?" she asked, feigning to be ignorant.

"You're only big brother is clinging yo his life by just a tiny thread. at your parents are both under our arrest because of committing a crime. I can't say that they're chances are all that great right now." he said in all honesty which made her worried for the fate of her family. "As for you and your sisters, well the best I can say I hope you got more relatives to look after you all, otherwise you'll be lucky if you all happen to land in the same foster home."

Now that really terrified the poet. The mere thought of her parents spending the rest of their days in prison, her brother not waking up from his injuries, and her family getting separated completely shook her to the core. And it was all because of a stupid move on not just he part, but by her whole family, she may play the pathetic, sad, and hopeless part, but this was one of the times where she felt completely and utter despair. All these heart wrenching emotions, the amount of guilt going through her, it was the very thing that finally made the dam burst.

*Sniff* Brookes had to make sure he was hearing things, because either he was crazy, but he thought Lucy actually made a sniffle sound. Turns out he was right, fresh tears were starting to pour down from under her bangs where her eyes were hidden. The 8 year old's lips were starting to quiver and she completely let all her feelings out. "I...I...didn't want any of this to happen!" she cried with a pitiful sad tone. "Lincoln...he's-he's my big brother! I do love him!" she said earnestly. The little goth grabbed both sides of her head. "What were we thinking?! What was I thinking?! Please don't leave me, Lincoln!" she begged as if her brother was in the room. "Forgive me..."

Brookes got up from his seat and went next to the little girl. He wrapped a comforting arm around her, and she cried into his chest. The young man patted her back. "Let it out kid, let it out."

* * *

 **Lana and Lola Loud**

When the time came for Lana to get called on, both of the detectives were told by the parents that one twin wouldn't go without the other. Both guessed it must have been a twin thing, so they compromised to let them go together and Stone and Brookes would take over the questioning together as well, just to make it fair. Both blonde headed girls held their hands for equal comfort. The tomboyish handy girl was trying to keep a straight face on and keep a brave composure, but her polar opposite twin on the other hand, well to put it gently; the spoiled bratty princess was a nervous wreck. Oaky, that sounded more gently in my head. But seriously, sweat was beginning to travel down her head, and she was shaking like a leaf. The detectives heard faint whimpers and could tell that she was absolutely terrified.

That's what you get when you watch crime movies at the tender age of six.

"Okay girls." Brookes addressed both of them. "Now, we just want to ask you questions and if you answer honestly, we'll le t you go home with your sisters." he promised them.

"What-What about our mom and dad?" Lana asked weakly.

Stone muttered under his breath. "Spending a night here, where they belong."

His partner nudged his ribs with a stern look. "Anyway, tell us, exactly how is your relationship with your brother? Were there any problems that made you treat him so bad?"

"No." Lana answered first. "Lincoln's our only brother for Pete's sake. We-We'd never actually hurt him!"

"I wanna believe you squirt, I really do. But all evidence point to the opposite direction." Brookes told her. "Lana, right?" he asked, wanting to make sure which twin was which, he always had trouble telling lookalikes apart. Thankfully, she nodded. "Alright then, tell us how you and Lincoln get along?"

Lana thought about that. Like Luna, Leni, and Lily, she happens to find herself quite attached to her big brother. She always thought since she acts more like a boy, she tends to connect with Lincoln since he's the only male Loud sibling, the two of them always had fun whenever they went outside to play some games and he would never tell her off about her rowdy nature. Plus, he supported it like when she took Lola's place at a beauty pageant. "Well, I really do care about him. Lincoln is just that good of a big brother to me. Whenever I needed him, he would help look after all my pets when I'm busy." she gave an amused chuckle. "They really love their uncle Lincoln."

Brookes nodded in understanding. "Sounds like you two are good friends." his face turned. "Tell me, Lana. During this whole bad luck nonsense, did you ever do anything...wrong to him?"

Lana gulped. She actually had a pretty good example. On Lola's suggestion, she completely boarded up Lincoln inside his room. Basically, they treated as if he were their prisoner and they were his abusing wardens. Right now, she was repeatedly slapping herself multiple times in her head, berating herself for doing such a thing. What was even more ridiculous, was that se actually agreed with her twin's suggestion. Since when has she and her ever actually agreed on an idea? She didn't want to admit to it, but these were police officers. She couldn't lie.

"I boarded up his room." she blurted out.

Both cops blinked and Lola turned to her aghast.

"Lana!" she was surprised that Lana would just tell that right to their faces, knowing full well that they might get in even more trouble.

"You boarded up his room?" Stone asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah, I uh keep a lot of tools and materials. Kinda have a wish of being a carpenter, plumber, that kind of stuff." the red cap wearing girl explained. "I took a hammer, some wood and completely made it impossible for Lincoln's room to be open from both ways." she admitted with a look of guilt and fury, mostly at herself.

"That's...a bit much." Brookes said after staying silent.

Lana turned away, ashamed to face them. "Trust me, I know that now." tears started to form. "That guy might have shot Lincoln, but we practically served our brother up to him."

Stone turned to Lola. "Okay then princess, now it's your turn."

Lola's eyes shrank in fear. "Please don't put me away!" she cried, putting her hands together in a begging fashion. "I'm too pretty to go to jail! I swear I won't do it again, honest!"

The elder detective's eyes twitched. This little brat thought she could just sweet talk her way out of this whole mess, well sorry brat, but not this time. "'Sorry' isn't good enough, kid!" Stone scowled, making the pageant winner shrink back. "Empty promises won't just make this whole mess you and your family caused to just go away as if by magic! You need to get it through your head, this is the real world, not one of those fairy tales your parents read to you every night, and in the real world, naughty girls get punished!"

"Abe, that's enough!" Brookes admonished his partner on his harsh attitude, especially to a child. He noticed Lola beginning to tear up and attempted to console her. "Sweetie look, just answer our questions."

"Don't defend her Matt." Stone told him. "Unlike her twin, it's painfully obvious that she has no love for her brother." he spat.

Lola shook her head furiously. "That's not true you big meanie!" she defended herself. "I happen to be a great sister to Lincoln and he always loved me too! He always makes sure I'm ready for a pageant and always makes even for me and Lana."

At that declaration, Lana gave a scoff. "Tch, yeah but only when it benefits you."

The princess turned to her more dirty half. " _Excuse_ me?" she questioned with a wary look. "What does that suppose to mean?"

Gritting her teeth, Lana turned to Lola. "You know perfectly well what that means!" she exclaimed, surprising not just her sister, but the detectives as well. "You are so smug, you know that?! You always think that the entire world revolves around you! That the perfect and beautiful Lola Loud is just the perfect little angel, well here's something everyone knows; you're nothing but a conceited brat! You always threaten us, make us feel afraid of you and that even includes our older siblings!"

"Hey now-" Brookes attempted to diffuse the situation, but Lola was quick to shoot back.

"Oh, like you're any better?!" the princess glared. "Like you told the policeman, you boarded up Lincoln's room! You don't see me doing that!" she pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

"Maybe, but I forgot to mention, you were the one who told me to do that! I still can't believe I actually listened to you for once, and you didn't have to blackmail me, like you always do!" the animal lover shot back. "Even more so that we actually treated him like he was some kind of curse on us. He's our brother Lola, he deserves better and you know it."

"WHY are you so mad me?!" Lola asked frantically

"Who said you were the only one I was mad at?!" that finally silenced Lola. Taking deep breaths, Lana shut her eyes as tears went down on her cheeks. "I'm not just mad at you. I'm mad at our parents, our sisters, and most of all...me. Don't you realize what we've done? We basically disowned Lincoln, and allowed some monster to shoot him! What do I need to do to make you see that this isn't just our fault, but yours too?" she said with pleading eyes.

Lola was never one to admit her faults, as much as she hated to admit it, her twin was right. She always did imagine herself as a perfect girl, but now she was starting that she's not so above acting cruelly. Just like when she blackmailed her siblings into doing stuff for her by threatening to spill all their secrets to their parents, she was starting to realize just how heartless she was. Lincoln was her big brother, and despite having some troubles with his boyish habits, she really did love him. When she was younger, Lincoln would sleep with her and Lana when there was a thunderstorm and they scared to sleep themselves. Heck he was also willing to help coach her pageant training and she didn't need to blackmail him. "I-I-I-You're right!" she cried, hugging Lana. "I do love Linky, I really do! I don't know-I was just thinking more about myself, I don't what I was thinking!"

Both twins hugged each other tightly as they cried with only silence filling the air.

* * *

 **Lisa Loud**

And then there was only one, Lisa Marie Loud, the second youngest, yet most intellectual of the Loud siblings. The detectives recognized this young toddler from some newspapers, stories about a super smart prodigy kid who's brain somehow got more bigger with every passing day and teaches her own class in college. Though they did find it odd that a smart person would actually believe in some silly superstition, they would really want to know just how she was able to fall for such a sham. Of course it will be somewhat difficult, from what they can understand, she's just as emotionless as Lucy, but she even she knew how to express her emotions. Let's not forget that despite her big brain, Lisa is till a toddler, and they are just filled with emotions.

The aforementioned prodigy child was sitting patiently in her seat. Her expression was dull and vid of all emotion like they expected. Brookes and Stone were once again together in this because Brookes wanted to make sure his partner wouldn't lose his temper again. "Well Lisa, it all comes down to you." Brookes said.

"Before you ask, I am prepared to provide you with appropriate and accurate responses to all of your queries." she informed, her blank expression never changing.

"While you're at it, can you carry my thesaurus?" Stone rolled his eyes. "You seem good at that."

Lisa tried not to, but she couldn't help but send a slight glare at Stone which Brookes caught. "Um, please excuse him." he told her. "Just answer our questions and you'll be on your way."

"Except for your parents."

"Abe." Brookes glared before sighing. "Okay look, we've heard of you Lisa. One of the most gifted prodigies in the country at the age of 4. An age where instead of doodling in your coloring book, you master cold fusion."

"I outgrew that childish activity." Lisa folded her arms.

"Like you've outgrown caring about your family?" Stone asked which sounded more like a statement rather than a question which annoyed the genius toddler even more.

"Oh my god." Brookes rubbed his temples with a grimace.

"I don't appreciate your tone of voice." Lisa stated.

Stone puts his hands up in defense. "Hey, I am just calling it like it is. I mean, when you think about it for a second, it shouldn't be a surprise that a smarty pants like yourself doesn't care about anyone other than your precious research."

"I have you know, that my experiments are very important and require a lot of attention." Lisa told him.

Stone gave a dry laugh. "Oh I know, and I actually agree with you there ankle biter. You know, we've gotten reports of really messed up stuff from your house, kid." he told her. "Yeah, people keep saying they hear you playing with some freaky looking device and for some reason, its pointed at one of your siblings. Is that what you think your family? As guinea pigs? Just a bunch of lab rats you're free to abuse whenever you feel like it? If I remember correctly, experimenting on humans is really punishable you know. Instead of regular jail, you might just land yourself in a government prison. I hear those worse."

"Do I need to put you in time out?" Brookes sternly warned him. He turned to Lisa with an apologetic frown. "Look, don't be afraid, you're still just a kid, you won't get punished that harshly." he reassured her.

"It's..." she gulped once. "...It's alright." she tried in vain to convince him, her face now showed an expression of slight fear.

"Lisa, we know that you're a special kid. Heck, I might just ask you to tutor my nephew, and he's in the 7th grade...for the second time. The point is, you're a very bright girl, so it really confuses me that someone like you could actually be misguided by superstition." Brookes said.

The bespectacled young girl gave a heavy sigh. "I'm honestly asking myself that question even as we speak." she answered. "For the first time in my life, I don't have a clear answer or logical conclusion." she looked down with guilt. "I'm aware I don't regularly express it, but I truly do have fondness for my parental units, my sisters, and especially the only person in the world I can call brother." she chuckled a little. "You know, secretly I consider Lincoln my only intellectual equal in our family. He may not come close to really be as smart as I am, but he's up there." she admitted. "His plans might sometimes be a bit too convoluted, but they are well thought out, which I can respect."

"So, you sometimes look up to Lincoln."

Lisa shrugged. "I guess that's one way of putting it. The one thing I do like about him is that he sometimes encourages me to live a little more. To accept the virtues of having fun and accepting that not everything has to revolve around test tubes or chemicals."

"Wow. That's awfully nice of him." Brookes noted with a little smile.

Lisa nodded. "Yes, it is. I also like how he makes my sandwiches." Then, the prodigy's relaxed look turned slightly sour. "And what do I do in return? Constantly look down on him and the others for not being as studious as I am." she clenched her fists. "Consistently take advantage of my family to fuel my own selfish research. And worst of all..." she started to shake. "...to allow myself to fall prey to a ridiculous, idiotic superstition so much that me along with my family alienate him as if he were some lowly parasite!" her lips started to quiver. "To cruelly evict I'm from his own home, without even considering the legal issues that would entail, effectively ensuring that a lowlife would shoot him, like we were a bunch of ignorant neophytes!" her voice started to raise a little and fresh tears were starting to form. "How could we have been such idiots?!" she cried out. This time, her tone held a lot of pent up rage, aimed at herself and her family, along with sadness as well. She looked down, as he cried miserably. "Forgive me my brother..." she sobbed. "Please forgive me...don't leave us."

* * *

At the hospital, the McBrides and the Santiagos left since visiting hours were coming to a close, but beforehand, Clyde and Ronnie Anne both sent one last look of sadness and hope to the unconscious form of Lincoln Loud. Both wished that wherever his family were, they were being rightfully punished for their actions. Ronnie Anne especially wanted to do it herself, but settled for doing it another time, for now, she and her family needed some rest. Her brother Bobby needed some himself after watching the former love of his life dragged off by the police.

Although, have they stayed, one of them would have noticed a faint twitch of the white haired child's finger. If only the visiting hours were longer, the ywould have seen Lincoln Loud's eyes begin to slowly open.

...

"Hello? Where am I?"

* * *

 **Boom! There it is!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 of Losing Him. So sorry for all the late updates, trying to figure out a way to balance all my stories, so last we left off our two detectives finished up on questioning each sister of the Loud family (except for Lily, of course) and meanwhile Rita's father Albert was picked up by some cops so that he could take the girls home. At the hospital, we saw a glimpse of Lincoln starting to wake up from his heavy injuries a few chapters ago. What this recent development might bring, let's just see for ourselves.**

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 **Enjoy!**

* * *

In layman's terms, it was a rather morbid drive over to the police station, Albert was waiting patiently as the police officers who picked him up from the nursery home, yet he was still reeling from learning about the shooting of his only grandson, he can only imagine how his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters must be feeling right now. One thing he is sure of, whoever is the son of a bitch that pulled the gun on an innocent little boy better pray that he's good at keeping his head low, because right now about a lot of people are out to get him and they are craving either to see him behind bars where he belongs, or see him lying in his own pool of blood. One thing kept nagging him though, why was his family at the police station? It would make much more sense for them to either be beside Lincoln while he's recovering in the hospital, or at home once visiting hours were over. Could they know something about the shooter? Maybe one of the sisters were there when it happened. At this point, the old timer could only speculate as the drive continued.

After what seemed like an hour or two, he saw the Police Department come into view. "Alright, sir. We're here." one of the cops said as he, his fellow officer and Albert exited from the vehicle. "Please follow us." he instructed.

The old man did so and the three entered, Albert was no stranger with how busy the precinct can be, when he was about Lincoln's age, his own father, God rest his soul, used to be a detective and when he had the chance took his son for a little take your kid to work day. So he wasn't surprised that numerous detectives were hard at work, he assumed were working on Lincoln's case. Now that he thought about it, it was one of the few crimes in Royal Woods that was actually drastic. "Captain Jenkins." the other officer called out to the man in charge.

The seasoned officer turned and saw two of his men along with a senior citizen. "I take it you're Albert." one nod was all the answer he needed. "Good work you two." he told the cops. "That'll be enough for today, I'll take things from here." he gestured Albert to follow him. "So, it may be stupid to ask this, but I assume you know about what happened to your grandson?" he asked.

With his fists clenched, Albert nodded his head in confirmation. "Believe me captain, it's hard not to, despite how much I want it that way. Tell me you guys have a clue on the bastard who did this." he practically demanded with a furious glare.

Sighing, Jenkins had to shake his head in response. "I'm sorry pal, but so far we haven't found that much. We have a basic description on the perp, but with no gun we don't have any prints to search through the database, not to mention on there being so many people living in this town, it's like looking for a needle in one big fucking haystack. But rest assured, we're doing everything we can to nab him." he then noticed something off the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's that you got there?" he pointed to his arm.

Albert looked and saw that the captain was looking at his right arm, the upper part was covered by the short sleeve, but a small part of it was showing, rolling up the sleeve it showed an army tattoo, he got it when he signed up for the Marine Corps, it's been so long since those days that he nearly forgot about all of it. "Oh this, eh something I got form serving my country, what's it to ya?"

The captain looked at the tattoo for a few minutes and decided to show Albert something of his own, he turned and rolled up his long sleeve and it showed the very same tattoo. Both old timers looked at each other with a look of respect and together they both uttered these words.

"Semper Fidelis."

Jenkins laid a hand on Albert's shoulder and gave him a serious look. "We will find this son of a bitch, brother. That's a promise." he swore.

To most, this may seem like an empty promise, but between these men it was a promise that will be kept, no matter what.

* * *

Inside the interrogation room, the Loud family were perhaps for the first time completely quiet, no one made a single sound at all, all around town the Louds have been infamous for causing insufferable commotion, heck some of their neighbors think that them actually staying quiet for a change was a sign of he apocalypse or something. The intense interrogation they had to got through with Detectives Stone and Brookes lest them with a lot to think about, to think, this whole thing started because Lynn was a sore loser and Lincoln had a silly idea, what they would have give to just turn back the clock and make it so that none of this never happened. It might work for Lisa, but she still hasn't perfected the technology. Now more than ever do they realize that their actions were unjust and now it may cost them everything. Eventually, Captain Jenkins walked in with a familiar man.

"Daddy!" Rita cried out.

"Pop-Pop!" the sisters cried as well. They all ran to hug him, with tears in their eyes which he happily returned.

"Hey everyone." Albert patted a few of their backs in comfort, after they let go he turned to his daughter and son-in-law. "Rita, sweetheart, Lynn, how are you guys?"

Rita sniffled. "We're-We're not doing so well dad?"

Something was wrong. He could feel it, looking at all the expressions of his family, he detected that there was something wrong, they all looked distraught but who could blame them? Lincoln was shot and it was only natural that they feel this way. However, he could see something else in their faced and their eyes; guilt, anger at themselves, but why?

"Well..." he warily said. "...I guess we should all get on home, eh girls?" he told his granddaughters, before addressing the parents. "So, when can I expect you two to come home?" he asked.

Both parents flinched at the question as did the kids and were now faced with the decision if they should tell the old man about what they did to Lincoln. About how they were the whole reason the poor child was in this situation, moreover how the parents were looking at a possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison. "Dad." Rita began with a quiver of her lips. "There's-There's something we have to tell you." she told her father. She knew that once she and the others tell him, things will get strained, but she knew she can't lie to him, he'll find out either way.

And so, the old man sat down and listened as his family told him every single detail of the events that built up to the currents circumstances, it broke the sisters' that their favorite grandfather had to listen and learn about what they did, but since he was to be their guardian until this whole mess gets sorted out, he deserved to know the truth. The parents were rightfully afraid, Rita especially since she was pouring out how she committed a crime to her own dad, she always thought that her father and her late mother raised her well, well enough to raise and care for her own kids with as much love they gave her, and he was proud of her for that, but that might change. As for Lynn Sr., he knew that Albert would be extremely furious at him, when they first met, Albert was wary of him which was expected, all fathers often criticize the people their children choose to date or marry, but as the years went by the two of them got a chance to bond a little and managed to find common ground, you might say Albert treated him like a son, except for what would come soon.

With that, Rita finished retelling all the events, the reason why Lincoln was out so late, how it was possible for him to get shot and recover in the hospital, and needless to say, Albert was filled a with full of emotions. He tried to process what he just learned. One of his own grandkids was kicked out, by his won family, under the silly belief that he was bad luck.

Silence filled the room as the Louds waited for Albert to give his response. After what seemed like forever, he gave it. "So, let me see if I got this right and my hearing aid didn't stop working." one could easily detect the eerie shock and anger in his voice. He looked to the kids. "Junior." Lynn gulped as he called her name. "When you lost a softball game, you blamed Lincoln, thinking he was the cause just for hi being there, even though you were the one who forced him to attend. Then you labeled him as bad luck, and convinced the others." he looked at the sisters with disappointment. "And you all listened, you alienated him, avoided him, made him feel like a plague on the family, and as if that weren't worse enough, you locked him out of the house." the sisters hung their heads in shame. Albert then gave attention to the parents. "Rita." his daughter looked away. "Look at me when I'm talking young lady, you too Lynn." they did so.

"The two of you went on board with it all." he stated coldly. "You didn't defend him, you didn't try to dissuade your daughters. No, you actually had the gall to go along with this whole sham. You agreed to lock your son, your _only_ son." turning to the sisters. "Your only brother, my only grandson outside, forcing him to sleep outside like a freaking runaway!" he exclaimed. "And then he got shot, because you all served him up to the scum that did it!" taking a deep breath, he stood up and walked over to his son-in-law. "You call yourself a father?"

"Albert, I-"

 **SMACK**

Rita, the girls, and Captain Jenkins widened their eyes as Albert's fist connected with Lynn Sr.'s face, knocking him to the ground. The hit was so filled with anger that that it was strong enough to do so. "Oh my god! Dad!" Rita yelled, aghast at her father's action as she and her daughters helped the patriarch up as he rubbed his nose to ease the pain.

"Are you kidding me?!" Albert bellowed in rage. "That's what this is all about?! You all believed in some made up nonsense like bad luck, you really thought that was ample reason to kick him out?!" he demanded, he turned to his daughter. "Rita, what were you thinking?! He was your son, your kin, your mother and I didn't raise you to do something as stupid as that!"

Jenkins moved to hold Albert back. "Hey! Easy there, friend!" he ordered. "This won't help anyone!"

A door opened, and Detectives Brooked and Stone ran in. "We heard some commotion." Brooked said, as they heard a loud hiding noise from the room they were previously in. he saw the bruise on the father's face. "Jesus, what happened to him?" he asked, surprised.

"Brookes, Stone. Meet Albert." their superior gestured to the old man. "Mrs. Loud's father, the kids' grandfather, and the one who just socked Mr. Loud." he explained.

"Really?" Stone asked with an impressed look. "Finally someone did it." he muttered under his breath.

After calming Albert down, he turned to the daughters. "Okay, you all and your grandpa will be escorted back home. I can assume Albert here is capable enough to dive, so he'll operate that family van of yours." he turned to the detectives. "You two, a word." the captain called in some officers to escort Albert and the kids to the van and together, they drove back home. With them gone, Jenkins now had the time to talk with his men. "I wanted to tell you two sooner, but you questioning the Louds took more time than expected." he motioned them to follow him to the main room. "It took a while, but the database was able to bring something up."

Both detectives looked as the computer gave them an image of a man in his 30s with dark hair and blue eyes. "Detectives meet Simon Lynch." the tech guy said. "He fits the description of the perp. Now I know, that's not really a lot to go on, but look at this." he said as he brought up some info. "Guy has a long record for grand theft auto, muggings, public indecency, disturbing the piece, drug dealing, the works. We looked for some more images and found this." one image showed Simon with a bandana, the same one the shooter wore to conceal his face. "And of course the gun. Some witnesses gave us the description of the gun that was used and after digging, turns out that gun was registered to Simon."

"So we got our guy." Stone folded his arms with a glare.

"Maybe, maybe not." Brookes interjected. "We'll have to look for him."

"From what we gathered, he regularly goes to this bar called Mack's." Jenkins told them. "It's about a few blocks from here."

"We're on it." Stone said as he and his partner left the precinct.

* * *

Albert drove Vanzilla with a stoic expression on his face. As much as things were going through his mind, the former soldier had to put his focus back on the road, he also needed to calm down a bit, that whole scene back at the police department made him a little excited, so he needed to keep his blood pressure in check. He still couldn't believe, as if learning that his only grandson got shot wasn't bad enough, learning that said grandson was kicked out by his own family because of believing in their own silly superstitions rather than caring for his welfare, it made him sick. No words could express how disappointed he was in his family, they always were good people and the though of them doing such a horrible thing made him so shocked, it was completely unbelievable.

While he was driving, the sisters had their own thoughts. They have never seen their Pop-Pop so angry before, because they never saw him angry period, he was always such a calm and easygoing man that they didn't think anything could possibly drive him over the edge like that, but then again, considering the circumstances, it should have been expected. The fact that he punched his own son-in-law in such a manner made them a little scared, if he was willing to do that, who knows what he might do to them? No, that was silly. As angry and disappointed he is at them, they were still his own granddaughters, he'd never raised a hand against them.

Even so, while he would never physically harm them, that didn't mean his opinion on them might not have changed.

The Loud House came into view and as Vazilla drove up the driveway, the police escorts drove away, and back to the precinct. The remaining members of the Loud family exited the van and went inside with an uncomfortable silence. Albert moved to sit down, but was stopped by the vice of one of his granddaughters.

"Pop-Pop."

Lana was the one to say his name."

"Yes, Lana?"

Lana looked down. "Do you hate us?"

That question mad Albert stop and stare at the girls who were anxious to hear his answer. "No, I don't hate you girls, I don't hate you or your parents." he told them with honesty. "You're still my grandchildren, Rita's still my daughter, and Lynn's still my son-in-law, nothing can ever change that." the sisters were relived but he wasn't finished yet. "But let me make one thing clear. Don't think for a second I'm not disappointed, because I am. You girls and Lincoln, I always thought no matter what happens, all 11 of you would never stop loving each other, but what you all did along with your parents, it's unforgivable. While your folks are in custody, I better not see any more of this bad luck nonsense. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." they collectively replied.

"Good, now go to your rooms."

They did so, leaving Albert alone. He rubbed his temple with exhaustion. "Jeez." he sighed as he sat down tiredly, he looked up into empty space with a sorrowful look. "Oh honey, if only you were here." he said, referring to his late wife.

* * *

The next day.

He was sleeping, because he was too much in pain to call for help. The young white haired boy wondered how he got in the hospital until his mind began to replay the events that transpired. He was shot, he was cornered by a mugger with a gun and he shot him, he laid on the bed with his eyes closed, it's been like this since last night. Yes, he started to recall how he nearly bled out in the middle of the streets, the ambulance must have arrived just in time to save him before the unthinkable happened. Pain was still present in his system, as he thought, he could only think about one thing.

 _THEM._

Anger began to fill his mind as he thought about how this was all their fault. They cared more about stupid luck than their own son and brother, and he was also disappointed. The comatose state he was in, though he can't fully remember it, there was one thing he knew, he was at peace, there wasn't any more pain or suffering. For the first time in weeks, he felt satisfied.

 _'What's going on with me?'_ he thought as he woke up and looked at his hands. ' _Why am I thinking this way?'_

Lincoln Loud's musings were cut off as he heard a startled gasp.

" _Dios Mio,_ Lincoln!"

He turned and saw Maria Santiago, Bobby and Ronnie Anne's mother in her nurse's uniform. Her face had an expression of shock and amazement.

* * *

 **Tell me what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Important Message:**

 **This story is NOT dead at all, I'm only putting it on a hiatus for the time being so I apologize if people have been waiting, I just need to take care of one story until I can get back to this one, until then you all just have to wait, it's just been a hard time to write after the last chapter, so when I get my groove back, I'll replace this note with the real chapter. Thank you.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Let me just say, I deeply apologize to everyone for having to wait so long for an update, I know a lot of you really like this story but I was kind of in the process of keeping up with one story that I really put a lot of hard work in and I was going to work on this and my other stories once I finished with the aforementioned one. But it's more than just that, since NSL aired, there have been episodes where the sisters have more or less earned some semblance of forgiveness, and I think I got over my anger at the horrid episode in the process, at least for the most part, there's still some annoyance inside. But now I just need to remember how I felt after watching and that gave me the strength to begin to work on Losing Him once again, I understand though if the many of you were disappointed, I will work hard to not displease you again.**

 **Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and Leave your Reviews.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It was like waking up from a dream, he could remember only bits and pieces about what happened in the beginning, such as the guy with the gun, Bobby trying to stop the bleeding and more importantly, the excruciating pain he felt when that bullet made contact with his flesh, it was perhaps the most heinous experience in his life. Well second heinous next to a certain fiasco with his quote, unquote, 'family', he was starting to think that the universe was perhaps continuing to punish him for helping spread the bad luck lie. Now here he was, stuck to an IV in hospital bed, the pain was still there but only slightly now, didn't take long for it to go away completely, not to mention the mother of his girlfriend was standing right there in front of him with wide eyes that displayed complete and utter shock as if she didn't expect to see him wake up.

"Mrs...Santiago?" Lincoln looked around in a panicked manner. "Where-How did I get here?! What happened?!"

Seeing the snow haired child in distress made Maria Santiago run up to him. "Lincoln, calm down." she gently told him in a tone akin to that of a mother. "Just breathe in and out." she advised him to which he complied with no hesitation. "That's it, don't stress yourself too much." she gently stroked his head to make sure his blood pressure doesn't skyrocket.

After calming down, Lincoln began to ask her questions. "I'm...I'm alive?" he breathed in amazement, stunned that he was able to survive something life threatening like a bullet wound.

"You gave everyone quite a scare, Lincoln." Maria told him with a gentle smile. "We weren't sure when you would wake up. Just stay right here I'll go het the doctor."

Watching her leave the room gave him the chance to think things over in his present condition, he actually managed to live through getting shot, for a minute there, it looked like it was the end of his story but it looked like this world still had plans for him, what they were, he had no idea all that he did know was that he was alive. He pulled his hospital gown collar up to see his chest and saw a patch work done on it, still kind of itched a little and now that he had some sense of feeling again, he could sense his shoulder being extremely sore and his arm was wrapped in an arm support sling. Other than that, he was fine at least as fine that a kid who got shot could be in the moment, then he started to realize something. He could have died. If it weren't for the doctors, he would have joined his great grandma Harriet and his deceased goldfish, Goldie, it made him scared, he wondered how friends like Ronnie Anne and Clyde would feel and more importantly, he could only imagine how his family-

...

 _Family._

Subconsciously, his fists began to clench as any sort of concern for _them_ washed away and was replaced by anger. The memories of how horribly they treated him were still fresh in his mind, they locked him outside, forced him to sleep like some sort of animal and more importantly, ask that he just leave and never come back. And he did just that, he left as they wished and as a result, nearly faced death at her door, and no matter how you look at it, it was all their fault and he knew it as clear as day. Sure, he also blames himself since he foolishly chose to spread that dumb lie but it was his so-called family that decided to let their damn superstitions get the better of them, they were so taken with the notion of treating their own son and brother like some sort of pariah and bad luck charm, they imprisoned him in his room like some prisoner, and look where it got him. Of course, he never would have gotten this silly idea if Lynn hadn't acted like a sore loser at that game of hers, he didn't even want to go in the first place and yet she had the gall to threaten him to go and blame him for her loss.

Those like Lori, Lynn, and Lola shouldn't come as a surprise, they've always overexerted their power such as being the oldest, the most athletic and a tattletale but it really hurt that siblings like Leni, Luna, Lucy, and Lana went along with it without any hint of hesitation, he's always felt a special connection to them too, Lisa was smart, he didn't expect her of all people to believe in stuff like luck, and Lily's just an infant, doesn't even know what she did was wrong. But then there were the parents, the two people who were supposed to protect their kids, the ones who could have diffused this whole situation from the beginning but no, instead of being the rightful parents that they should have been, they just agreed to force one of their own children to sleep outside and only cared about the good fortune that came with his absence.

Why?

Damn it all, why?!

"Ah, so you are awake." he turned and saw Maria Esmerelda Santiago with the doctor. "Thank you for keeping me informed Maria, I'll take over from here." he told the nurse.

A part of her wanted to stay, but she knew to leave this in the hands of her superior. "Of course doctor, have a good rest Lincoln."

The anger that was inside him was replaced by calmness over the gentle nature of his girlfriend's mother. "Thanks." with her walking away, he faced the doctor once more. "So, how bad is the damage, doctor..."

"Isaacs, you can call me Dr. Isaacs." the medical professional replied. "As for your question, well all I can say young man was that you really cut it close, the bullet was only a few inches apart from your heart, yet it's still a complete miracle that you survived, you're tougher than you look. Your shoulder will need time to heal so you might want to take it easy for a while." he advised, gesturing towards the slung arm. "Now, I think I should notify your next of kin...or maybe people that were close to you."

Lincoln slightly glowered but stayed silent until asking another question. "How long will I have to stay here?"

"Until we can tell that you're in tip top shape to walk about, it might be for a while or so." the doctor answered. "Until then, nurse Santiago and all the oyher attendants here will provide you with anything you need, so just relax. If you need me, I'll be on the phone." he left Lincoln's hospital room and now he was alone with his thoughts.

So he'll be notifying _them._

Well that's just great.

* * *

"So this is place? Looks crappy to me."

"It's a casual hangout for criminals, Abe. What did you expect, fancy waiters?"

Using the newest evidence and clues that were picked up, the two detectives Abraham Stone and Matthew Brookes proceeded to check out the only lead they have at the moment which was a bar in the far side of town called of Mack's, a bar where a lot of questionable characters went to drown their sorrows in alcohol and gambling and such. From what they could understand, their lead suspect, Simon Lynch was a frequent customer here, so this was the only place they might find him. For Stone, this would be a personal victory since he'll be busting the sorry ass of some punk who shot a kid of all things, there was no way he was losing this perp in his watch, Brookes just hoped that he would keep his temper in check otherwise he'd do more harm than good which was the last thing anyone wanted.

"Still, they could at least try pass for an establishment that's been approved by the health department." Stone scowled as he looked to the customers that were present. "There's definitely a lot of garbage that needs cleaning up."

Brookes gave him a warning look. "Don't eve think about it, we don't want the captain or worse yet, the town's higher ups suspending us for breaking protocols."

Stone just rolled his eyes in response. "Everything's protocols with you."

The cops walked up to the counter where the bartender had his back turned. "Excuse me." Brookes called. "We'd like to ask you some questions, that is if you could."

"Yeah, yeah. Just as soon as my shift-" he stopped as he saw the men in suits. "Thought the weekly inspection only happened once." Stone and Brookes exchanged a deadpanned glance and promptly showed him their police detective badges that immediately made him grimace. "Ah crap. Look, whatever you heard, this place ain't harboring anyone under the cops' radars."

Stone snorted. "That so?"

"Yeah." the bartender nodded. "Look, my bar makes a point to make sure that the only customers we serve do light stuff like stealing a purse or something, no one here is in for anything serious so I like to think I'm not breaking the law."

"So I take it, you're Mack?"

"As clear as the sign up front." Mack replied. "Now, if you don't have any business here, get out of here before I complain to your bosses."

Punks who shoot kids and other criminals are easy things to tick off Detective Stone, but smart alecks like this Mack fellow was really starting to make his blood boil, here he was trying to do his job and this guy was getting in the way of that. "Alright, enough small talk, pal!" he grabbed Mack by the collar and pulled him close. "Let me tell you right now that the last place I would ever want to be caught in is this hellhole bar of yours!" he growled dangerously. "But right now, my partner are trying to nail a bastard who shot a kid for god's sake! Now answer me, where can we find Simon Lynch?!"

Mack was sweating bullets as a new sense of fear filled his mind, he was caught off guard when the cop described the nature of the crime they were investigating even more so of who the suspect was. "L-Lynch? I don't know where he is, he only comes when he wants to!" he shivered as he was afraid of what this cop would do.

"Yo, Mack! Hook me up with a beer." the cops turned around and were greeted by the sight of a customer that had just entered the bar, the detectives kept their eyes glued to his physical appearance, dark black hair and blue eyes, his facial appearance was indistinguishable from what they saw back at the precinct, even more so with the bandana wrapped around his forehead. The man froze as he caught sight of the two cops, Stone's gaze hardened into an intense glare at the man, without warning the man immediately went for the door and ran as far away as he can.

"I don't think so!" putting Mack down, Stone ran after the man that was clearly identified as Simon Lynch, Brookes followed suit and as they ran out they could see the piece of scum was taking a right in a nearby corner. "He just took a turn to 3rd street!"

"I know a way to cut him off!" Brookes told him. "You give chase!"

"Music to my ears!" Stone scowled as the detectives split up to corner their prey, Stone was the one who was very intent on catching this scumbag and making sure he would pay for the crime he had committed. He made the same turn as Lynch and gave chase to him, this guy could run all he wants, it won't save him from justice.

With the criminal in question, sweat was pouring down his head as he wasn't really sure where he could go, dammit, he should have known something like this would have happened! That dumb kid couldn't have just ran away or give away his wallet, now he got a pair of cops on his tail, but he wasn't going anywhere, not as a long as he breathed. Taking another turn, he saw his chance to disappear in an alley but then Brookes ran up to block him and before he knew it, Stone tackled him to the ground. "Get your hands off me, pigs!"

"Not your damn life, you son of a bitch!" Stone glowered.

Brookes quickly slapped the cuffs on him. "Simon Lynch, you're under arrest on account of attempted murder, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you in court."

"I didn't do anything!" Lynch yelled, but no one believed him as the two cops hauled him up and dragged him off to where their police car was parked, justice has been served.

* * *

As hard it was to believe, the Loud House was for once very quiet, the usual high energy and rambunctious noises that normally filled the rooms were all but absent, it was an even that was very rare in Royal Woods, though considering the circumstances, this was to be expected in light in all that has happened in their once happy family. Not only did the sole son and brother of the family was shot and hospitalized, but due to their poor judgement in what happened before said shooting, Lynn Sr. and Rita, the family patriarchs were now being kept in the police station, leaving the fate of the Loud family unknown and it was questionable at best. With their parents being kept at the precinct, Albert opted to look after his granddaughters, and though he was greatly disappointed in their actions he let that slide because they were kids, they didn't know any better, but his daughter and son-in-law were a different story all on its own.

The elder man was sitting on the living room couch as he thought how crazy things have gotten in this house. _'Jesus, how could something like this had to happen?'_ he thought miserably to himself, he knew how it happened, but it's still so unbelievable. Apparently, Junior lost a softball game and blamed her loss solely on the presence of her only brother's "bad luck", even though she threatened him to go in the first place. Next thing you know, the boy thought it was a good idea to support this claim, started convincing the whole family about it, a little too well for his liking, and what started out as excluding him from family outings to making him sleep outside and even told him to leave, possibly forever.

And then, he got shot and once the family came clean about their actions, the mother and father were promptly arrested at the hospital and after questioning from the detectives, the old man was now acting as the caretaker of the family. Luck, the very notion of it was silly to him, Albert was never one to be superstitious, he sure as heck never relied on luck in any point of his life, not when he was in the army, or when popping the question to Rita's mother, and certainly not when he finally got a grandson who was the spitting image of him. No, he likes to think you could only rely on your own true grit to get by life the best you can.

Obviously, these kids haven't quite learned that just yet.

Upstairs, the sisters weren't faring any better, they were filled with guilt, self-hatred, and most of all sadness, all that's happened up to this point has taken its toll on them all, especially on the ones that were particularly close to Lincoln, they all wished they could just take it all back, to have things just as they were before the whole bad luck situation. In Lori and Leni's room, the eldest child sat on her bed as she kept her eyes on her phone that was laid in front of her, in times of depression, she would call Bobby for emotional support since he's her boyfriend, or _was_ her boyfriend, she couldn't really tell anymore, she can still remember his look of disappointment at what she did and can't say for certain if they're still going out, would he even give her words of comfort? As for her roommate, the fashionable sister hugged her knees as her lips quivered and she could only give out weak whimpers and sobs, with a choke, she called out.

"Lori?" her roommate turned to her. "Am I a bad person?"

This particular query made her older sister surprised. "What? Leni what makes you say that?" sure, her ditzy younger sibling may not be that bright, but she's always so nice to everyone.

"Isn't it like totes obvious?!" Leni retorted with a sniffle. "Look at what we've done to our brother, first we started leaving him out of fun stuff like going to the movies, then we board him up in his room and force him to sleep outside! And because of that he got shot!" her grip on her knees start to tighten. "I-I knew that what we were doing was wrong...!" she sobbed. "It was mean and wrong and I wanted it to stop, but you, mom, and dad, the three of you were okay with it so I figured it might have been the right thing to do, you always tell me to follow your orders and theirs and look what happened! I didn't defend Linky when I know I should have, is it-is it my fault...?"

Lori could only look at her in thought, she recalled how she and the parents knew how compassionate Leni can be and knowing her, she absolutely would try to come to her baby brother's defense so they all took advantage of her airheaded nature in order to preserve their perceived "good luck". She clenched her fist as she realized that if Leni had defended Lincoln, then maybe none of this wouldn't have happened, but she convinced her sister otherwise and here we are now, she got up and went over to Leni's bed and wrapped her arms around Leni's crying form, the other blonde cried as her elder sister soothed her sorrows.

"You aren't a bad person, Leni." Lori reassured her. "If anything, the real bad person is me. I'm not just your big sister, but I'm also Lincoln's too and I should have stopped this, if I had told Lynn to cool it or stop Lincoln from spreading that stupid lie,then maybe I would have actually succeeded in being the elder sibling I should have been." pretty soon, the elder child felt waterworks begin to form in her eyes as well. "It's like that detective said, I should have known better..."

Putting our focus away from these two, we now go to another room, this time it was Luna and Luan, the latter of which was too depressed to even pick up a phone that continued to ring, signifying a latest request for Funny Business, but she wasn't feeling the normal urge to make birthday kids laugh, she felt it wouldn't be the same without her favorite assistant. Luna laid on her bed with her headphones on, she was hoping listening to some Mick Swagger would lift her spirits like always but no amount of music could make things easier for her or the rest of the family, things would never be the same after all that's been said and done, and she know. With a frustrated yell, the teenage rocker pulled her headphones off and threw them at the floor. "Damn it!" she cursed. "This is pure bogus!"

"Luna!" Luan gasped at her crude language.

He roommate hot off her bunk bed and punched her fist to the wall, not caring about the pain. "What the hell is wrong with us?! Lincoln, he was our baby bro and we jus got on the bad luck train, we treated him like some hater at a concert, kept him locked in his room and we just treated him like he wasn't our family at all!" she shut her eyes in anger at herself. "Why? Why didn't I defend him?"

Luan stayed quiet as her older sister vented her frustrations, she understood how she felt, even though the comedian has pulled many pranks on the boy that didn't mean she never saw him as her little brother, truth be told she thought the bad luck thing was some joke on Lincoln but then she just had to fall in with the superstitious crowd as well.

"Kids, you might want to come down here!"

Hearing the announcement made by their maternal grandfather got all the sisters to exit their rooms and immediately went downstairs where Albert had placed the telephone back in its place, he had a look of astonishment and shock over what he had just heard over the phone, his granddaughters shared a collective glance of curiosity. "Um, Pop-Pop?" Lana asked, tensely, a little nervous. "Is everything okay?"

"The police department just called." the Loud sisters gulped, wondering if he would tell them about the judgment about their detained parents and scared if it were the worst case scenario. "The son of-" he took a moment to rethink his choice of words given the fact that there were incredibly young and impressionable children present, namely the little infant being held by the second eldest child of the family. "They found the punk who shot Lincoln. He gave the cops a bit of a chase, but they managed to bust his sorry hide and catch him." he told all of the, and at that moment the sisters became completely frozen as the elder's words settled into their brains.

He was found, the cold sadistic bastard that nearly killed their one and only brother actually got himself caught, but for some they felt that whoever this depraved man was he deserved worse than being placed behind bars. He shot Lincoln, one of their own and if there was one rule in the Loud House it was that if you messed with one of them, then you'd mess with all of them. "Where is he?!" Lynn exclaimed, her entire body trembled with anger overflowing her veins, she wanted to find this guy and make him pay. "I swear, I'm going to pummel his bones into dust and break his legs for messing with our brother!" she growled dangerously.

"Junior, you will do no such thing!" Albert sternly told his angry grandchild not wanting her to take matters into her own hands.

"But Pop-Pop, he shot Lincoln! He deserves everything he's getting!" Lynn replied.

"And he'll get it when the cops get the confession out of him, I don't need more of my grandkids in the hospital just when the last one has already woken up!" that last part really got to them.

Lynn along with all her sisters froze as his words settled in, "the last one has already woken up"? The only Loud kid who was recovering in the hospital was-oh God. "Pop-Pop." Luna said, her eyes watering. this time out of joy. "Are you saying...?"

"The hospital also called. Girls, Lincoln woke up."

* * *

"You lousy pigs! I'll fucking kill all of you!"

"Keep yelling your punk ass like that and you just might."

To say that keeping Simon Lynch quiet would be an understatement, the crook kept yelling the entire car trip to the precinct and it was starting to get on the detectives' nerves, especially Stone's, in addition to being a child shooter he also had the vocal chords of a wailing banshee and he just wanted to gag that darn mouth of his. Captain Jenkins was waiting for them and had other officers escort him to the interrogation room, then he addressed the two detectives to review all that's happened. "So, you searched for any thing on him?" he asked.

Brookes took out an evidence bag which held a pistol. "Only this, same kind of gun witnesses saw him shoot the Loud kid with, along with the bandana he used to hide his identity."

"Well. looks like today's nothing been good news."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I got a call from the hospital. That Loud kid just woke up this morning." these news pleasantly surprised the detectives as they couldn't help but be relieved that the kid was able to pull through the end, but it may have been a but too soon before this entire fiasco was over and done. "There's something else you both should know. Mr. and Mrs. Loud barely got any sleep last night since by then they were worried about their son and we don't want any accusations about keeping them awake so maybe their due for some good news."

Stone was against the idea, he still thought ill of those two for their hand in their son nearly getting killed, them and their damn superstitions getting the better of them, but Brookes thought after everything's that's happened they deserve to know that they haven't lost one of their children to this sad world and was the first of the two to go into the room where they were being held in. Both former parents looked a little worse for wear, the captain was right about them looking like they didn't shut their eyes since last night, the guilt and anguish they must have made them think they didn't deserve a good night's rest, he hated it when people punish themselves even if it was their fault.

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, I've got news for you both." he said, getting their attention. "I just feel like I should tell you that my partner and I tracked a lead down and I were just told there was a recent development with your son." the mention of their white haired child made them widen their eyes in anticipation, sitting on the edge of their seats. "It took a while, but the kid turned out to be stronger than he let on, he's awake from his sleep."

Rita took a minute to perfectly understand what he just said, the sleep depravity made it hard for her to focus but those words were clear to her and her eyes began to moisten with tears. "He's alive..." she breathed. "Our baby's alive...?" a nod of confirmation was enough for her to sob tears of joy as she thanked God for this miracle, her husband consoled as he too was relieved to hear this news.

"Detective." Lynn Sr. began. "Please, can we see him?" his query made Brookes freeze. "Please, we're not asking you to let us go free just please let us see him."

Brookes didn't know how to answer that, he didn't really have the proper authority to allow this request but he couldn't help but pity these poor unfortunate souls and think that they should at least see how one of their kids were doing, he looked through the one-way mirror where Stone and Jenkins were standing on the other side, Stone thought that they should be kept here but Jenkins was perhaps a bit more...generous.

* * *

It was kind of boring in the hospital at first but then he asked if he could watch some TV and they agreed, other than that, it was a relatively slow day, guess it should be a given when recovering in the hospital, Lincoln wondered exactly when he'd be clear to leave because he'd rather chill at the arcade or comic book store in all honesty. But that's when he started thinking seriously, after he' discharged from the hospital that would mean he'd have to go back home. back to that poor excuse of a family and that made him glower, his musings were cut of once Mrs. Santiago came in. "Hi Lincoln, are you doing okay?" she asked.

"So far I'm doing fine." he answered. "Though I'm a little bored and it kind of gets lonely in this room all by myself."

Maria smiled. "Then in that case, it's a good thing brought a friend to keep you company." she looked behind. "It's okay honey, you can come in now." she stood aside to let a visitor inside and he'd recognize that purple hoodie anywhere. It was none other than Ronnie Anne, her daughter and Lincoln's sort of girlfriend.

"He-Hey Lincoln." she greeted with a nervous wave.

Lincoln blinked and waved back. "Hey."

The nurse saw that it would be better if she wasn't present so she decided to stay out of it. "I'll give you two some privacy, call if you need anything, Ronalda."

"Thanks mom." Ronnie Anne said as her mother closed the door.

For a while, the two didn't say anything at first mostly because they couldn't think of anything to say at the moment, which was understandable considering the circumstances, but then Lincoln decided to break the ice. "So, uh, how've you been?" he asked but got no response so he tried to think of another subject. "I'm okay, in case you were wondering, I mean my arm could be better, obviously but other than that, I got nothing to complain." he scratched his nape with a bashful chuckle. "You're probably thinking how much of an idiot I am for getting shot and not running to safety, but what can I say? I didn't exactly expect someone to hold me at gunpoint so-" he was cut off when Ronnie Anne proceeded to hug him.

It was rare for someone of Ronnie Anne's reputation to show this kevel of affection but she's made an exception for the ones she loves and Lincoln was definitely on that list. "Not again." she whispered with a little sniffle. "Don't ever scare me like that ever again, you big idiot." she told him which sounded more like her begging than a demanding.

Lincoln couldn't help but rub her back in a comforting manner, he didn't know all that about relationships but a part of him thought this would help. "I promise, Ronalda." he silently whispered back with sincerity, she broke the hug and he brushed a lock of her hair out of the way, they both stared into each other's eyes lost in both of them and without thinking, they leaned in closer.

However, their tender moment was cut short when they heard a commotion from the room.

"Everyone please, you have to wait."

"But Mrs. Santiago, we have to see him!"

"Please, just for a minute or more!"

"We want to see Linky!"

those voices were unmistakable to Lincoln, the voice was kicked open and there they were, all 10 of his sisters, including Pop-Pop of all people were there and they all looked at him frozen and surprised. "Lincoln..." Lynn breathed.

"Wincon! Wincon!" Lily reached her arms out to her big brother and Albert complied by walking over and placing the baby on the bed, she caressed his head with her face and proceeded to kiss his face, making him smile a little at the gesture, he tickled under his baby sister's chin making her giggle as a result.

"Make way people." everyone turned and saw the detectives from before who were escorting 2 familiar people who were on handcuffs and were guiding them into Lincoln's room.

"Dad! Mom!" the sisters gasped.

"Girls!" both parental units welcomed the group hug their offspring gave them, all happy to be reunited for a brief time, then they saw their only son awake and alive.

And so, a tense silence filled the hospital room as the Loud family tried to find the right words to say to their only son and child who was looking away from them with an indifferent expression, it was clear that he wasn't in the mood to face them right now and they didn't blame him, after everything he went through because of them and their superstitions, he was right to be angry with them. After what seemed like a century, Rita was the first to speak up for all of them. "Lincoln, honey." she gulped. "I know that we're the last people you'd want to see, and let me be the first to say that we are truly sorry for what we've done to you. It was wrong of us to treat you like a bad luck charm and to force kick you out of the house, none of us can only imagine what that must have felt like. And I know, we may be asking a lot out of you but we just hope you find it in your heart to forgive us."

"We're really sorry, baby bro." Luna said as well.

"I took out all the boards from your room." Lana spoke up.

"And we'll buy back all your stuff, we literally swear." Lori promised.

"Yeah, and we won't listen to anymore luck as well." Luan told him, this time being serious.

Lincoln stayed silent the whole time his mother expressed a sincere apology to him, they were all truly remorseful for their actions and didn't want there to be any bad blood between them, Lincoln handed Lily over to Pop-Pop and told him to go in the waiting room, and though he was curious as to why, the elder man complied.

But sometimes, a simple apology was never enough to satisfy one's rage.

"You want to know what it felt like?"

Most of the family blinked. "W-What?"

"You sure you want me to tell you how I felt when you all started treated me like a pariah and forced me out of the house without a second thought? You sure you want to know? Because I can tell you right now...it made me feel like a pile of utter crap!" he bellowed making them all take a step back as he continued to explode at them. "You were my family, you were all supposed to love me, but you all got on the whole 'Lincoln is bad luck' train awfully fast, none of you thought it was a bad thing to make me feel less of a human and more like some object you're free to degrade as mush as you like, but you know what? That's fine, I should be used to it at this point, because now that I think about it, that's always been that way for me, my whole entire role in the family is being everyone's favorite punching bag!"

"What?!" Lynn exclaimed, aghast. "Linc, that's not true!" she insisted.

Lincoln shook his head with a dry chuckle. "Oho, I wish I could believe that Lynn. But if memory serves, you were the one who was quick to blame me for your loss at that game of yours! You could have just been a good sport and accepted that you just weren't good enough but nope, you just had to be a sore loser and blame me just by being there! If you didn't want me at your game, then why threaten me to go there in the first place?! In fact that's all you've ever done, you always have to force your bro into stuff he didn't want but it's either your way or a meeting with your fists! And it's not just you, you all have a lot to answer for, whether it's making me feel like I'm the cause for your fights even when it's over a dress!" both Lori and Leni flinched. " All those over top pranks that could have hurt us!" Luan rubbed her arm. "Treating me like some servant!" Lola's eyes watered. "Being a lab rat!" Lisa cleared her throat. "Or when you blame me for something without as much giving me a chance!" Lucy looked down. "Or gang up on me, because even though you all have so many differences, you all seem to share the love of ganging up on me which made me realize something, you all never loved me at all!"

"But Lincoln, we do love you, you're our one and only brother!" Lola quivered, hoping to calm him down.

"We-We never meant to make you feel like that..." Lucy said, actually showing the emotion of sadness.

"it was a miscalculation on our part, yes, but we never had the intention to hurt you in such an unforgivable manner." Lisa told her male older sibling.

Lynn Sr. also wanted to try and get through to him. "We were stupid, we admit that but we never meant for any of this to happen.

"You're our son, and we could never stop loving you." Rita said, not wanting to hear anymore.

"Oh really mom?" Lincoln glared. "Because I seem to remember you and dad promising us that we were the best things that ever happened to both of you and that you'd never get rid of us, and you broke that promise. Unless you were only talking about the girls and not me, because that's what I'm thinking!" this made the parents look down in guilt as they do remember them telling that. "You know, I won't lie I'm not exactly an angel, I've had my fair share of screw ups in the past, and I admit, wanting to spread that damn lie was pretty stupid but I just didn't think you all, my family would do such a thing to me, your only son and brother! I don't know how all this will end, but I can tell you right now that as far I'm concerned, Lily and Pop-Pop are the only family I have left, even Aunt Ruth!" Get out. GET OUT!" he roared.

The Louds were heartbroken, they knew that Lincoln was angry at him but this wasn't just anger, this was straight up rage at all of them and they didn't like it one bit. Seeing all this, the detectives knew that this was probably the best time to intervene, they didn't want this scene to escalate into something that can't be fixed. "Okay, I think we're done here." they all tried to guide then out of the room.

However, they didn't want to go. "No, Linky! We all love you!" Leni insisted.

With his fists clenched and tears in his eyes, he turned to them all with anger in his eyes and his next words rocked them to the core.

"I HATE YOU!"

* * *

 **Again, sorry for the long wait. Hope this is good enough for you all.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Wow, I gotta say, I'm pleasantly pleased by all these reviews, glad I could make up for making you guys wait so ling for an update, I'm also glad that no one bares any ill will towards me for taking way too much time, well I'm telling you guys right now that I am intent on putting a lit of focus on this and all of my stories. Now, last we left off, the detectives managed to catch the guy who shot Lincoln, Simon Lynch and speaking of the whit haired kid he had woken up in the hospital and his family visited him to try and make things right with him, but they clearly underestimated the amount of anger he was capable of displaying. I know that in many NSL stories such as "What is a Person Worth?" by the talented That Engineer, Lincoln loses his trust not his love for his family so I wanted to see how it would go if he outright says the dreaded H word, by which I mean 'hate' not the other H word.**

 **I will say this, at that time Lincoln was consumed by all the anger he felt as a result of his so-called family's actions that led to him getting gunned down and clinging to life, so it was a given that he'd express it in such a manner, but can it be certain that he truly feels that way about most of them? And can the Louds reclaim his love and faith in them?**

 **Let's see and find out.**

 **Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and leave your Reviews.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Hate.

An easy word to say, one needs to understand its meaning.

To feel the emotion of hate means to have a strong dislike of someone or something, such a feeling is most usually brought on by the actions that a person does to another, the action itself can be so cruel and heinous that in addition to being sad and angry, hatred is the primary emotion of the one who has suffered and its hard to get rid of such a feeling. In the Loud family, hate is rarely ever expressed, maybe when it comes to doorknobs being broken or an inconvenience happening but other than that, hatred is all but nonexistent in such a family, they may get on each other's nerves that causes major problems but at the end of the day they remind themselves that they still love each other no matter what happens. Unfortunately, this is perhaps the first time in their lives where things don't get resolved and there is a lasting feeling of sadness and remorse that may hang in there for a long time and only time will tell if itll change.

When they learned that Lincoln got shot, it was an eye opener for the Louds, it made them realize just how messed up it was for them to treat their only son and brother like a bad luck charm especially when they locked him out of the house, it indirectly caused him to get shot by a depraved crook and left him clinging to life. Things took a turn for the worse when the parents were promptly arrested by the police and had to be detained at the station while the 10 sisters were looked after by their maternal grandfather, Albert. Then, as if by some miracle, Lincoln was able to pull through and awaken from his brief time unconscious, the Louds saw this as their chance to express to him how sorry they are about their past actions and hoped that he would forgive them and let bygones be bygones.

Alas, that was only a fantasy.

To say that the sole son and brother of the family was angry would be the understatement of the year, he was downright furious with his family and let them know just how much he's sick of all the harsh treatment he's been met with, he described all their faults and how much their actions have made him come to hate all of them, sans Lily whom along with Albert and Ruth are the only family he has left. Perhaps it was fair, they basically disowned him when they kicked him out into the cold without hesitation and now he returned the favor tenfold.

A few minutes after his little episode, Lincoln's stress was getting to nuclear levels so the doctors had to ask the Loud family to leave so that their patient would calm down a little, that much adrenaline coursing through his system was unhealthy given the condition he was in. Ronnie Anne silently sat by his side as she continued to hold his hand in order to calm him down, it was rare to see him so mad, sure he's been ticked it off before but it was never this bad and it kind of scared her. "Lincoln, are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah." he replied with a sigh. "I think I just needed to get all that off my chest." he told her as his anger slowly left his system but there was still some bitterness left over. In all honesty, he was just as surprised at his explosion, he was never one to be prone to losing it as he mostly just keeps it all locked inside but what he went through was the last straw and he just couldn't hold back anymore. "Sorry you had to see all that, must have been pretty awkward for you, huh?"

"Maybe a little bit." she admitted with a shrug. "Gotta hand it to you though, Linc, I didn't think you had it in you to explode on your family like that. If it were me I would have used action instead of words." she lightly glared as she too was a bit angry at the Louds, especially to Lynn, one could say she was on top of people she would exchange fists with. She expected Lincoln to agree, but she saw that he looked down with a stoic expression, but she couldn't help but sense a little sadness radiating off him. "Hey, something wrong?"

...

"I'm not sure."

All of a sudden, another voice was heard.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." they both turned and saw Albert standing in the doorway.

"Pop-Pop." Lincoln looked up in surprise, not that it wasn't bad to see his grandfather, it was just unexpected.

Albert looked to his only grandson with a kind smile. "Hey there Lincoln." he then turned to Ronnie Anne. "Excuse me, little lady but I don't suppose you'll let me talk with him in private?"

"Oh, uh sure." she got up and went to the door. "I'll be right out." she told him and closed it shut.

The elder gentleman sat down on the chair and looked to the resting form of one of his grandkids, it was sad to see him on a hospital bed but he thought to what happened not too long ago and well, he was conflicted, he agreed that what the others did was plain wrong but he needed to make sure of something first. "So, how you holding up kiddo?"

"I'm fine. At least for the most part, can't say I enjoy having a bum arm and staying here for a while." he answered. "Other than that, I got nothing to complain about."

"You sure about that kid? I mean, that little uh...fiasco that happened was a little intense for my taste, the girls are waiting in the van and I can tell you right now that they're not exactly in the best of spirits. Not just them, but your parents looked real shaken up by what you said to them which were pretty powerful words, buddy." he told him.

Lincoln looked away. "So what? You're saying that I shouldn't be mad? That I shouldn't hate what they did? The very thing that caused me tp get shot and nearly die, you think I should just let it go?" he clenched his fists as the very thought was starting to make his newfound temper to rise once more but Albert soothed him.

"No, I'm not saying that." he told the white haired kid, making him give his full attention to the senior citizen. "What my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters did was completely unforgivable in every sense of the words, I can imagine Junior being sore about losing but that didn't give her the right to blame you for her loss and the others should have stuck with their common sense and not be so sold on the whole luck nonsense, those are for poor saps who have no confidence in themselves and those who rely on it are prone for disappointment. What happened to you was something that should never have had to happen and obviously, they need a reality check. So yes, I can agree that they deserve some hatred from your end but let me ask you this kiddo; can you honestly tell me that you'll hate them forever?"

Lincoln was prepared to say yes to that query but he stopped as he wasn't sure if he could give an honest answer, sure he said outright that he hated them but did he say that in he heat of the moment or was he being truthful about all of it? That was the question he was thinking of, before now he never had the thought of openly hating his family, they drive him crazy but he never thought that ill about them, until now that it is. "I-I don't-I don't know." he stuttered. "I should, but I mean I hate what they did but I just don't know if I can think of them the same way anymore." at that point, the tears soon came. "I was their son and brother, and they treated me like that..." he wept. "Why? Just...why...?"

Albert held him close to comfort him. "There, there, sonny boy. They just got carried away, happens to the best of us I guess, lots of people are prone to rely too much on luck. Look kiddo, I'm not going to tell you that you should learn to try to forgive them even if they deserve to be hated by you for the rest of your lives just know that I hope whatever you choose to do, it's the right thing." he got up. "I gotta get the girls home, see you around kid and get better. I'll visit you some other time. Oh and one more thing, that girls out there's a keeper." he winked.

Luckily, this made him wipe his tears away with a laugh. "Very funny." he weakly laughed as his grandfather went away and allowed Ronnie Anne to go back into his room.

"You alright?" she asked.

Lincoln looked down, deep in thought. "Yeah, swell." could he hate his own family forever? He never like to hold a grudge but he could never forget what they did even if it they were sincerely sorry for their actions that didn't change the fact that it still happened and there's no going back from that sort of thing but he had to ask himself; what's the better way? To spend the rest of your life dealing with hating those who have been with you since the day you were born? Or try and make up for past mistakes, to see if there was a way to rebuild broken familial bonds?

It was a question not even a prodigy like Lisa could answer.

* * *

Inside Detective Brooke's car, he was driving while Stone was on the passenger's seat while the Loud parents were riding in the back and those two were just a couple of sad sacks, it was like they got the news that their son was shot a second time, what they have been through these past few days are some of the worst things that any parent could have ever experienced. Bad enough did they get the news of one of their children getting gunned down in broad daylight but they got arrested for a crime they were ashamed to have committed and had to be interrogated like common criminals and to top it all off, when they saw Lincoln when he woke up they were met with unbridled rage and he outright told them that he hates them. For a parent, that's about the worst thing that a son or daughter could ever say, it defines just how poor work they did as parents to that boy, their actions didn't give them good luck it only made life hell for them.

Lynn Sr. consoled his wife as she sobbed on his shoulder, their son's words still set on their minds and it just made them feel like they deserved such treatment. Once, they drove up to the precinct they were escorted inside by the detectives from which they were guided by some officers into the interrogation room they were previously kept in. Brookes rubbed his temple as seeing all this family drama was starting to get to him so he went to go get some coffee to help out. "Jesus, and here I thought things were bad when my family gets together for our reunions and you've met my cousins so you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, well no one in your family has ever treated a kid so poorly that it got them arrested, if you ask me, it could have played out a whole lot worse than what we saw." Stone said as he sat down on the table. "But hey, at least its over, we got the bastard who shot the kid and with any luck the kid will get most of his strength back so I guess that's it."

Brookes shook his head. "Come on Abe, you and I both know that when it comes to cases like the one we've been handling, its hardly ever overm in fact this is only the beginning. No doubt, the parents' case will most likely be taken to court and everyone knows how crazy things get in there and when the kid's discharged from the hospital, I can't help but feel that going back to those girls would be the last thing on their minds and I can only imagine what his sisters are going through right now. I just can't help but feel bad for this Loud family, especially the parents."

Stone had to check his hearing again. "Excuse me, but you feel sorry for them? They kicked one of their own kids out of his own home and forced him to sleep out there and wouldn't let him back in, they practically guaranteed that he would get shot." he reminded his partner, showing how he was obviously still bitter about the whole thing. "And it was all because they believed he was bad luck, to me, there's no excuse for anyone to treat their own child that way, unless you disagree."

"Hey, you're in good company, Abe." Brookes reassured him. "But that's what really makes this whole mess so sad, that it was caused by a silly superstition called luck. It could have been for a number of things, and we've seen them all but nope, in this special case, superstitions and luck was the sole reason a child nearly lost his life and it's just plain ridiculous, and while I'm not exactly happy that was the reason for what they did, we can hardly call those parents criminals. You've read their files, the dad was some IT guy and the mom was a dentist's assistant and besides having 11 kids, they were about as average as normal people go."

"Still doesn't change the fact about what they did." Stone stubbornly said. "Those girls are kids, they don't know any better but the parents, as far as I'm concerned those two are guilty of child abandonment and abuse which is a crime and as cops, we're supposed to put those who commit crimes behind bars where they belong. End of story, that's the way it should be." in one split second, he was thinking of something from a past, a child sitting in a cupboard with bruises on his face, the very memory made him zone out a little. "The way it should be..."

"Downtime's over boys." both stood at attention when they're captain came in. "We have Simon Lynch in custody, but the bastard keeps yelling stuff about wanting to talk to you two specifically about something he'd only talk to you two about since you were the ones who caught him. Now, I know you probably want to take a break and all but that guy screams louder than my wife when she sees a mouse so would you mind entertaining her for a bit, if not for the sake of everybody's eardrums?"

Brookes and Stone turned to each other as they considered this and they ultimately decided to do so.

* * *

A sibling meeting was a special gathering of the children of the Loud family whenever there was an important matter that needed to be discussed by each of the siblings and each meeting has always been assembled at Lori and Leni's shared bedroom and after what had transpired at the hospital, such a meeting just had to take place. Lori observed each of her younger sisters and understandably, they were all equally depressed, and why wouldn't they be? After all, they were just told by their one and only brother that he hated them, and those words had impacted each of them in many ways. For the eldest, she was used to a couple of girls from school not thinking positive of her but she could hardly care about some haters at school. But hear it from her own little brother, it just made her feel like a complete and utter b-wait, there are kids present.

Leni, the second eldest, didn't understand a lot of things but she perfectly knows what hate means and to hear that her baby brother thinks like that about her it just broke her already fragile heart as she hugged her legs in a fetal position. Luna could handle some guys racking down on her and her passion for rock and roll but there was just so much anger her little brother had against her that all she could do was lay on the bed with a saddened glower. When she heard her siblings complain about her comedy it made her consider giving up on it but hearing what her brother said made Luan into a sad clown which was the worst kind. Lynn already placed enough blame on herself for this debacle but now Lincoln hated her and the rest made her start to hate herself a little and that was as serious as it sounded.

The younger kids weren't faring any better, this time around Lucy had ample reason to act like a sad sap as having your beloved big brother hold so much ill toward you is about the worst thing in the world. Lana and Lola could only sniffle as they both lamented over having to hear him so those awful words to them, they just wished they could take it all back. Even Lisa showed sadness and like Lucy, she was never really one to express innate human emotion but after all they went through, tears from the toddler were expected. Lily was the only one not present as Pop-Pop had but her to sleep in her crib already and besides, she was the only sister Lincoln still loved.

"Alright everyone, I think its obvious why I called you all here for this sibling meeting." Lori proclaimed, smacking her shoe on the desk so that all their eyes would be on her. "After what happened at the hospital, it's obvious that right now, we're not exactly Lincoln's favorite people right now and honestly I can't blame him. We've done less than stellar stuff over the years but what we did to him, it was unforgivable and wrong, and he has every right to feel that way, but that doesn't mean we can't earn his love back."

Luna dryly laughed. "You really think so? You heard what he said, Lori, little bro hates us and you know what? Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be because as far as I can tell, we don't deserve to be forgiven." she looked down with a glare.

"So you want him to hate us forever, Luna?" Lynn asked. "You want him to discard you as his sister, is that it?" her question made the rocker clench her fists. "I don't think sisters like you have to worry, you and him always seemed pretty close to each other, if anyone deserves to be hated, then it might as well be only me, I'm the one who started this whole thing. It's like he said, I was a sore loser."

Lisa cleared her throat as she decided to chime in. "Even so Lynn, the rest of us aren't necessarily innocent, I can't even call myself a woman of science due to me foolishly believing in a very flawed superstition that is luck. The point I am displaying to all of you is that the majority of us should have been more considerate of our sole male sibling unit's feelings and that our actions would have consequences, so we all share equal blame. Lori is right though, we should try and mend our broken ties with Lincoln, we owe him that much."

Once again, Lisa made a good point.

But that was still easier said than done.

"What can we do, though?" Lana asked. "Lincoln thinks we feel the same way about him, because of all the mean stuff we did to him in the past, I can't help but feel it might be hopeless." she turned to her darker older sister. "Is this how you feel all the time, Lucy?"

"Trust me, the guilt is way worse than any feeling of darkness I've felt in the past." the goth replied, followed by a sigh.

Luan shook her head. "But there has to be something, I don't want Lincoln to hate all of us especially not forever, isn't there anything we can do to show him we really do still love him and to earn his forgiveness?"

"Alright, settle down, everyone." Lori announced, smacking her shoe like a gavel. "I know our chances aren't exactly looking good, we already have enough problems with mom and dad getting arrested but first and foremost we have to make it up to Lincoln somehow, I don't care if it takes days, months, or literally even a year. Lincoln's our brother, and he's always had our backs like we've had his, we push and shove each other but one thing we don't forget is how much we love each other. But we made Lincoln believe that wasn't true, now's our chance to remind that we do love him or else we'll end up losing him forever. Come up with ways with your respective roommates if you have to, we've got to nail this, meeting adjourned."

With that announcement, the meeting dispersed and the sisters went back to their shared bedrooms, but Luna lingered a bit. "Lori." she said, looking to the eldest. "Do you really believe that we could make things the way they were before?"

Lori knew that the odds were against them but if there was one thing about the family was that they always prevailed over the odds. "Yes, I do." she replied, putting a reassuring hand on Luna's shoulder. "Go get some rest Lunes, we all need it."

Things may look bad now, but that didn't diminish the hope that some of them had.

Let's see if that hope will pay off.

* * *

Simon Lynch always hated cops, it's a common nature for people like him, people who commit themselves to pulling off horrible crimes against innocent lives and for a guy who shot a defenseless kid without hesitation, things weren't looking good for him. The door opened up and the detectives who nabbed him from before were there just as he requested. "Alright Lynch, you said you wanted to speak to us about something, so it better be good because I was just about to head out and have some sweet old downtime at my home." Stone said as he crossed his arms with a scowl on his face like always, showing that he didn't have time for scum like him.

"Look, I just want to talk to you fellas for a sec." Lynch insisted, sweat pouring down from his forehead.

"Really?" Brookes questioned as he sat down. "I don't see that much to talk about, the boys at the lab have already confirmed that the gun you own is the same one you used to shoot that poor kid down as if you were a hunter in open season, coupled with that bandana of yours, you're looking at a long time in prison and folks there don't take too kindly with shooters who target kids."

Sighing, Lynch decided to cut his losses. "Okay listen, I admit I was the one who shot him, but you don't want me." he said, getting both of their attention. "See, I'm pretty much a grunt, a guy others hire to do their dirty work for them, if you read my record a little closely then you'd know that I was paid off to pull those little schemes. And this time was no different."

Abraham Stone was now glad he decided to maybe entertain this lowlife, because it looks like said lowlife was implying something that would benefit the police department greatly. "Now hold on, are you saying that...?"

"Yes." Lynch nodded. "See, I only robbed that store because before that I saw the kid walking down the same street, and at that point I knew I had to have a cover, so I hid in that store until the moment. It was no accident boys, I only shot that kid because I was paid handsomely. Someone hired me to do it, someone wanted that kid to get shot."

* * *

 **Oooh! Plot Twist! So someone paid Simon Lynch to shoot Lincoln, but who? Is he even telling the truth? Find out next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So a few days ago marked the 1 year anniversary of the worst episode of the Loud House, No Such Luck, the episode that has since given birth to numerous fanfics based on it, which is pretty ironic, even though it was such a horrible episode it made for good material to write some good stories. Heck, I got all these ideas I'll probably do in the future because of that episode so stay tuned for that, alright now let's get down to business.**

 **Now to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of this story, I give you this chapter. Last we left off, the Louds were reeling from Lincoln's declaration of his hatred towards them which was understandable all things considered, but that doesn't stop the sisters from trying to and make things right and reclaim the love and trust of their one and only brother, however one can imagine what fate will befall their parents. But then, the two Detectives that were on the case since the beginning were told by Simon Lynch, the scum that shot Lincoln in the first place had told them it wasn't a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was hired to shoot him.**

 **Now, we find ourselves in a mystery.**

 **Who hired Lynch?**

 **Why would they want Lincoln shot?**

 **Why am I asking these questions when I can just write and let you guys figure it out for yourselves?**

 **Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and leave your Reviews.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Abraham Stone and Matthew Brookes have been on the force for a while, the former longer than the latter but both have seen their fair share of messed up stuff in the mean streets of this world, the kinds of things that would mentally break most men and would make one question the darker aspects of the human race. They've nabbed drug dealers, gang members, petty burglars and the like so it came as a surprise when they learned about a white haired kid being shot in public, even more so when they learned about what the kid's family put him through, then they found and arrested the shooter with ease and with that, they assumed it was all over. However, they learned that this goes far deeper than any of them could ever have imagined, the gunman had asked for an audience with the detectives and revealed something mind boggling, he told them that the shooting was no accident, someone had hired him to tail Lincoln and shoot him down with no hesitation.

So yeah, this was all sorts of crazy.

Since it was getting late, they decided to hold off on their questions until tomorrow morning where they resumed their interrogation session with the walking pile of criminal filth.

"Okay, so let me see if I got this right." Brookes said as he rubbed his temples to make sense out of everything. "You're telling us that someone hired you to follow Lincoln and shoot him and robbed a store to make it look like a robbery gone wrong?" he surmised, not believing that he just said that sentence out loud.

"What, did I stutter? That's exactly what happened!" Lynch told them, seemingly adamant of his bold claim. "I was called by some guy who had his voice disguised with I think it was an untraceable phone, he texted me a picture of the kid and said he'd transferred 50,000 dollars to my account if I...you know take the squirt out so do what you want with me, but if I were you, I'd go after the big fish."

Stone folded his arms as he took all this in with a skeptical frown. "Right, and you think we're just gonna take your word for it, you know for a dumbass you sure come up with the wildest stories to try and save your sorry ass." he took a sip of his coffee. "So if you think we're just gonna listen to the lies of a bastard who has no problem shooting kids, then you must really take us for idiots, don't you pal? Go ahead and give any excuse you have, no one here will believe you."

"I ain't making any of this up!" Lynch insisted. "Go to my apartment and look for my phone, it's red with skull stickers and you can find it on the counter, I never erased the call that was made, you have to believe me!"

His partner might not believe this sorry excuse for a human being, but Brookes couldn't help but consider this, part of being a detective is to take any clue or information presented to him and see if it's valid enough, Lynch seems sincere but guys like him are professional liars but should he take that risk? "I'll be out for a moment, you need anything?" he asked the criminal.

"Some water would be nice."

"Got it. Abe, try not to break his spine while I'm gone." Brookes warned his partner as he stepped out of the interrogation room where Captain Jenkins was looking through the one-way mirror. "I take it you heard all that, Captain?"

His superior nodded. "It's hard not to. So, you think he's being legit or is he trying to pin this on someone who probably doesn't even exist?"

"The million dollar question." Brooked stroked his chin in thought. "Abe's definitely not believing, that's probably his anger and stubbornness getting in the way of common sense for the umpteenth time, but if there is a chance that this guy's actually being honest, shouldn't we at least try to see for ourselves?"

Abe had to admit that was a good question, but didn't want to pick sides with his two best detectives. "Hard to say. There's no evidence of it, save for the supposed phone in his apartment, might need to ask him some more questions before doing anything about it."

Nodding in response, Brookes went to fetch the scum some of his precious water. "Anybody have some water? We got a whiner who's getting thirsty."

Close to him, was a regular officer who had his back turned, he had an uncapped water bottle and discreetly took out a turkey baster to drop something a little extra. "Got ya covered, fresh from the fridge." the officer said.

"Thanks."

As the detective left, the officer then started to walk away and took out a phone. "Sir." he spoke in a hushed tone. "It's done." he walked out of the police station. "Shift's over." he explained so that no one would question him leaving.

Back with Brookes, he went back to interrogation and surprisingly, Lynch was still breathing and Stone looked like he hasn't moved since his partner left to get the water of which he placed on the table. "Okay Mr. Lynch, just so we're clear we don't have any reason to believe, in fact we're very impatient people and want nothing to stop us from seeing you behind bars."

Taking a deep breath, Lynch drank his water and started to speak.

But then...

He started coughing, furiously coughing, he held his throat as he felt it go crazy ad his heart was beating like a drum and he just couldn't take it anymore, he fell to the floor causing the detectives to go to him. "What the hell?!" Stone exclaimed as he did not see this coming.

"Someone get help!" Brookes yelled to outside once he saw that Lynch was starting to foam in the mouth, the door bursts open and Captain Jenkins along with a few officers went in to see what they could do. "Hey! Lynch, stay with us, who hired you?! Answer us!" he told the dying man but the crook couldn't get any words out as he felt his heart beat begin to slow down, his rolled back and his head dropped to the floor, Brookes put fingers to his neck, he got nothing. "He's...dead." he breathed, completely shocked along with his fellow officers of the law.

How could this have happened? All he did was drink some water.

Water.

Brookes and Stone looked to the cup of water and the latter took it out where he proceeded to pump into a potted plant, where it proceeded to whither out and die. "Poison." the veteran officer observed then turned to his partner. "Who gave you that water?"

"An officer!" both ran out and looked around. "Hey, did anyone leave just now?!" he asked, frantically.

One officer was going to the interrogation room but stopped to answer Brookes. "Once just left!"

Brookes and Stone promptly ran out and looked around but there was no one in uniform for miles, the most likely fake cop had to have tainted with a poison sample and now there was no longer a shadow of doubt left in the air, someone really did hire Lynch shoot Lincoln Loud and whoever it was, they didn't want their hired gun to squeal so they silenced him for god.

It seems this mystery isn't over after all.

* * *

School was a challenge. That was something kids of all ages would agree with, especially for teenager sin high school, it was an atmosphere of impressionable teenagers who are unpredictable in their actions along with sticking with kindred spirits who share in their interests, such a word for this is called a clique. Lori and her younger sister, Leni, found themselves forming personal friendships with girls their age who also enjoy spending much of their time with their cellular devices along with being up to date with all the latest fashion sense, after the stressful days they've been having, they need some levity.

"Leni?" Lori said, snapping the fashionista out of her daze.

"Huh? What?"

"You alright?" her fellow blonde sister asked. "You almost ran into the front doors just." Lori told her as both sisters entered into the cafeteria. "I mean, you do that a lot in the past, but you're more...distracted than usual.

Sighing in defeat, Leni knew she couldn't keep any secrets from her. "I don't know Lori, it's just I'm stall sad about Lincoln." she told the eldest who could only look down and understand why Leni's mind was somewhere else, it was hard for all of the Loud sisters given their current family situation but as the oldest child, Lori knew she had to keep their spirits up, otherwise they'll never get their brother back. "Last night, I usually call my friends to talk about fashion stuff but I wasn't really in the mood to be honest."

Lori could relate, she can't remember the last time she went so long without one single phone conversation with Bobby. "I know it's hard to literally deal with right now, but I told you, if we can work together then we will find a way to make it up to Lincoln and be a family again."

"But Lori, what if Linky hates us for like ever?" the second born Loud child questioned. "You saw his face, it wasn't just anger, but pure hatred and even if we do get him to forgive us, what about mom and dad?"

These were all good points that Leni was making, surprising considering she rarely ever understands the importance of most things and Lori couldn't help but agree with her, she too noted the hate in Lincoln that was directed in all of them, save for Pop-Pop, Lily, and-*shudder*-Aunt Ruth, so it will definitely take time to fix their now broken bond with him. And of course, there was the matter of their parents, she read up and saw that one punishment for Child Abandonment was up to 10 years in state prison if their charged as felons so that was a scary thought, of course given their motivation for kicking him out, it might be treated as a misdemeanor and only get 1 year or more, either way it was looking bad for them.

However, she didn't want to focus on that, at least not for right now, she can only hope that their parents could get good lawyers and despite Pop-Pop being a good caretaker, his age was a serious matter and it couldn't be said if he could take care of the kids for an extended period of time. "I don't know, Leni. Let's just get through the day, besides I'm sure hanging with our friends will bring a smile to your face."

Both Loud sisters got their trays of food and saw a table where their school friends were sitting which included Becky, Dana, Terri, , and some of Leni's fashion friends that she invites over to her one sleepover that caused a blackout in the house which motivated Lynn Sr. to say that Leni would never have another slumber party again. "Hey girls." Lori greeted as she and Leni took their seats and were about to eat, but not before noticing something. Everyone was quiet, too quiet in fact, they all seemed livelier at first glance but when Lori and Leni sat down it was like the fun in the air immediately died down. "Uh, girls?"

Carol looked to the others. "Let's go." at her call, they abruptly got up from their seats and immediately went off, much to both sisters' surprise and shock.

"Wait, guys!" Lori called after them. "Where are you going?!"

"Away from you two." Becky coldly answered.

Leni's lips quivered. "G-Girls...?" she looked to her friends but they all averted her sad gaze.

"I don't get it, what's this all about?" Lori was desperate to get to the bottom of what was going on with her friends.

Dana answered for her. "We know what happened Lori. To your brother, Lincoln and what you and the rest of your family did to him, it's been all over the net and the news." to show proof, she held up her phone to present a post that read: 11 YEAR OLD SHOT BY CROOK! WITNESSES SAY THAT FAMILY CONFESSED TO HAVING EVICTING HIM FROM HOME.

Both of their eyes widened in horror as they saw that it had everything, the details surrounding Lincoln being shot, along with witnesses in the hospital who saw them confess to making him sleep outside under from what they could understand was because he was apparently, "bad luck" and thus the parents were arrested, there was even a video of it for all to see. Now, Lori was berating herself for not using her phone as of late, otherwise she would have seen this coming and prepared the other sisters for the inevitable backlash. "Guys, please, just let us explain-"

"Explain what, Lori?" Becky cut her off, not wanting to take her excuses. "That you kicked your own little brother out, that you forced him to sleep outside because of something incredibly dumb like bad luck?! We never expected something like this to happen, we especially never took you two for being cruel to your brother! He could have died!"

Lori flinched under their harsh tone, but in her heart she knew Becky was only telling what was the truth. "B-But we never meant for him to get hurt!" Leni insisted.

"But that's what happened, Leni!" a dark haired girl retorted. "That little cutie did get hurt and it was all your fault! I'm sorry, but this is goodbye, consider this friendship over." they all began walking away from their now former besties.

All the two could do was reel over how their friends, the ones they've known for a long time just straight up ended the beautiful kindred friendship that they all shared, and now they began to notice other students had heard the commotion but not out of curiosity but so that they could give the two their own judgmental looks that showed their disgust and utter disappointment, Leni couldn't take it anymore and she ran away in tears followed by Lori who took out her phone.

She needed to let the others now, starting with the next Loud in the birth list...

* * *

Luna Loud had separated from Lori and Leni to clear her head for a while, with all that's been happening in her family as of late she needed to familiarize herself with people who understood her, that being fellow rocker fans who love to rock out loud music as mush as she does, it was lucky that it was a free period that meant she could meet up with them at the back of the school. There were about three of them, one male and one female, but her focus wasn't really on them, it was mostly on the other female among the trio, a certain blonde girl with a teal streak across her hair, Sam Sharp, a close friend and her secret crush. Talking to her always made her feel good, she couldn't help but talk about her inner feelings with her, if only she could muster up the courage to ask her out.

"Yo dudes!" she called to them as she moved to them, but then the other two rockers left in quite a haste leaving behind Sam who for some reason seemed a little troubled. "Hey Sam, everything cool?"

"Hm? Uh yeah, sure..." her fellow rocker replied with an uncertain tone in her voice.

This made Luna frown in confusion. "You don't sound so cool, what's up?" she then glared a little. "Did those 2 dudes diss you just now?"

"It's not what they did, Lunes." Sam contradicted as she decided to confront her friend about the issue. "It's what you did." she told, looking straight at her in the eyes.

"Me?" Luna questioned, taken back. "W-What did I do?"

"Scroll through your phone." Sam instructed. "You'll see what I mean."

Curiosity filled her but she had a tiny suspicion of what her crush was, so she complied and looked to see a news alert, and what she saw made her widen her eyes in panic then flinched as she guiltily looked to Sam who gave her a stern glare. "Sam, I know it looks bad, but-"

"But nothing, Luna!" Sam snapped. "Bad enough your little bro gets freaking shot but as it turns out, his own family kicked him out of the house like he some hater at a concert or something! And I just wanted to make sure, did you do anything to stop it?!" she demanded but only got silence but that was good enough for her. "That's what I thought. Why? Why do that to your own family? I never pegged you to believing something bogus like bad luck. The poor kid didn't deserve what happened to him!"

"We never meant to!" Luna urged. "We were stupid, I admit that, but please understand that the last thing we ever wanted was to see little bro get hurt like this!"

Sam turned away, disappointed all over her face. "I used to think you were an awesome chick, Luna, all those jam sessions we had, those concerts we went to, the girl I saw back then, that's who I'm seeing right now." Luna could only lower her head in shame as the girl she had feelings for said these things, and she didn't disagree. "I don't want to do this, but I'm not sure if we should hang out anymore."

The moment that the blonde girl finished her sentence, it was as if her record of Mick Swagger broke into a million pieces, like her heart was. "Sam..." she sniffled. "Please..."

No, not like this.

It can't end before it even began.

With nothing left to say, Sam turned her back and started walking. "Goodbye Luna."

Now in this free period, instead of chilling with her peeps, Luna Loud stood with tear drops raining on the ground as she stood there as if she couldn't hear the sound of her phone ringing. The normally chill girl broke down on her knees and silently sobbed as she was left all alone, no Lincoln, no Sam, there was nothing.

* * *

Usually, Lynn was all for baseball practice, it's where she could show off her mad skills out on the field but her head just wasn't in the game that day, her thoughts were preoccupied by thoughts of Lincoln, every time she stood ready to hit the ball, an image of Lincoln appeared with that big smile of his waving at her, it distracted her as she continuously struck out. Eventually, she decided to maybe take a little break and get her priorities straight before going back on the field. As she sat alone on the bench, she couldn't help but keep thinking about her only brother, the brother she swore to protect as her duty of being his elder sister of which she failed and tremendously so, not just that, but thinking back she realized that her efforts to "toughen him up" were a bit overboard, she convinced herself that she was trying to help him but now that she thought about, maybe she was just being a no-good bully to him.

"Hey Loud." she looked to see one of her teammates. "Coach wants to see you."

Lynn arched an eyebrow. "Um, okay." she got up to go to the main office of the Squirrel's coach and she was curious, not just by what her coach wants with her but quickly noted that her teammate had a rather cold look when she said it, almost as if she had something against the athletic Loud, but for what reason, she couldn't figure out. She went inside where the team's manager stood in his chair with a stoic look, which made her nervous as everyone knew what that look meant; he was displeased. "You wanted to see me coach?"

He sat there in silence before gesturing to the chair in front of him. "Sit down, Loud." he ordered of which she complied, then he began to speak. "Kid, I'll be honest with you, when you tried for the team for the first time I didn't know what to expect, at first, you seemed more like a hotshot newcomer who was all talk. I thought you'd be satisfactory at best but boy, did you prove me wrong." he lightly chuckled. "I can still picture the look I had when you scored 10 points without striking out. Since then, you've been our little ace in the hole, and I was proud to have someone like you on the team, not just me, all the captains on the other sports teams you're in feel the same way. You were something special, Lynn." he then adopted a frown. "But you did one thing, I never expected you to do, you let me down, you let us all down." he threw a newspaper to the desk and when she saw the headline she panicked.

The coach knew.

Everyone in school knew.

Her hands trembling, she tried to defend herself. "I was-I was angry about losing about that big game from before!" she told him. "It was one of the important games we had and I tanked it but I'm Lynn Loud! I don't lose games, I win them so I thought maybe it wasn't my fault, I thought it was because-because-"

"Let me guess, your brother was at fault just by being there?" the gruff coach surmised. "There were those who saw your little outburst Lynn, they told me how you told him to his face that it was his fault we lost the game, that he was bad luck." he shook his head. "Lynn, I can't tell you how much of a poor sport you were. Even the best players in the major leagues have their off days and they don't blame others for their losses, they take it as motivation to be better and not by relying on something so stupid like luck, but by pure skill alone, that's the makings of a great athlete, something you didn't show. As if that weren't enough, that kid brother of yours got gunned down and then I'm hearing that you and your family actually kicked him to the curb as if he didn't matter. After hearing what happened, the girls kept giving me these complaints about you apparently forcing your silly good luck exercises such as early morning push ups, only allowing them to go take a dump after they win, what the heck, kid?"

Lynn stayed silent as he continued, he was right, everything he said rang true and if she had any common sense, she would have realized her folly sooner which could've prevented so much heartache.

Sighing, the coach got to the point. "Look kid, I've spoken with the team, the other sports coaches and the school board, we all agreed, such behavior especially from you can't be tolerated. I'm sorry, but I'm cutting you from the team, you should go ahead and clear your locker. You're done."

"What...?" Lynn whispered as his words sank in. She, Lynn Loud Jr., was cut from a sports team, but that's impossible, she's never been cut from anything in her life. "Coach, please don't do this...!" she practically sobbed.

It hurt to see her like this, she was always known for being strong but the choice has been made. "It's not just me." he gestured her to turn around and saw the managers from all the teams she was a part of enter through, all stoically looking at the former star athlete. "The board also thought it'd be best if it wasn't just softball, but everything else as well. Sorry kiddo, but I think this is the end of your sports career."

The end.

So that's it, she wasn't gonna shoot hoops or skate with her roller derby team, or spike a football with those she calls friends ever again, that was the only path left for her. Lynn covered her eyes with her hair and then stood from her seat. "I got ya, guess I'll be leaving." she sounded unaffected but that was to hide the pain of what she just heard, the 13 year old left the office and passed by the other girls, she shared one look with Margo, her best friend and she could only look away. Going to the locker room, Lynn got all of her things and began leaving, as she did so she couldn't help but see her sister, Luan who seemed to be begging to some guy with brown hair, Benny, that was his name from what Luan told her. Benny shook his head and left Luan who teared up and ran crying.

Guess everyone's having an off day.

As she left the school, took a second to observe the field for what seemed like the final time and restarted her walk as she made it back home, she didn't stop to say hello, only to go up to her room where she dropped her stuff, she picked up her bat, the one she threatened Lincoln with and with a yell broke it apart and threw the pieces to the ground, she laid on the bed and cried into the sheets.

* * *

"Alright, let's review the entire shit storm that just happened." Jenkins said as Brookes and Stone stood in his office.

Clearing his throat, Brookes did a recap of the events that transpired. "Well sir, after getting Simon Lynch into custody yesterday, he had requested to see me and Detective Stone personally, as you already know." after all, he was the one who told them. "After that, we went to see what he wanted us for and he told us something that makes it seem like this case is more deeper than we thought, he had claimed that he was hired by an unknown person to shoot Lincoln Loud."

The police captain turned to Stone. "Is this true?"

Stone nodded in response. "I know it's hard to believe sir, but that's what he told us. Today, we decided to see if his claims had were true but at that time, I had my doubts. But then, the bastard wanted a drink of water."

"I complied." Brookes continued. "An officer seemingly on duty gave me one but when Lynch drank, he quickly began to suffocate and died right on the scene." he was a child shooting son of a bitch but it would have been more satisfying to see him rot in jail where he belonged, death was the easy way out which made his death all the more disappointing. "Unfortunately, he couldn't give us any info and we tracked down the officer who gave me the water but he had disappeared into the crowd."

Rubbing his temples, Jenkins took a sip of his drink. "So we may have another bastard out there who ordered a hit on a little kid and the only guy who could tell us who it was is now lying in the morgue. Damn it." he cursed. "Where are we on the poison?"

"CSI is still processing it, other than that, we got nothing." Brookes sighed.

Stone crossed his arms. "No, there is something. Remember when Lynch told us about his phone at his apartment?" he recalled the last things Lynch told them before his death. "If we could get our hands on it, we can track down the one responsible and we can at least nab him, we owe it to that kid." he said, with both of his associates agreeing with him.

"Right." Jenkins pointed to both of them. "Matt, Abe, you two have been on in the case since the beginning and I expect you to see through it to the end, any resource you need, any extra hours you're thinkin of requesting, well you'll find it here. Dismissed."

They left and discussed the recent matter they have on their hands. "I don't get it, the Louds were a normal family, well as normal as a family with 11 can be so who could have hired to shoot him and why?"

"Maybe when find the one responsible, you can ask them yourself." Stone replied. "For now, let's focus on hunting. There's someone who pulled all the stops to make sure this kid would get shot and maybe even die, thank god he didn't and now it falls to us to track him down and if whoever it is thinks they can outrun us." his glare hardened. "Their dead wrong."

* * *

When school ended, Ronnie Anne had plans to visit Lincoln again at the hospital but this time she was brining another friend, Clyde, when he heard that his best friend had woken up he continuously asked the Santiago girl if he could come with her, this time of which she accepted and as a bonus, Bobby decided to come along as well. "You wouldn't believe how crazy things have gotten in school, all the teachers and students want to know how you're doing, especially, Tabby, Haiku, Polly Pain, and Giggles." the nerdy kid told Lincoln. "Not just them, but our other friends too, but Rusty fainted since hospitals give him a nervous vibe."

Lincoln chuckled good-naturedly. "Sounds like him. Clyde, thanks again for coming to check up on me, you too Bobby, though I am a little sorry if you had other plans for today."

"Are you kidding, buddy?" the McBride boy responded. "I hear my best friend survived and you expect me not to see him? Pal, I'd have canceled a session with Dr. Lopez."

The elder Santiago sibling nodded. "Seriously bro, everyone's seriously worried about you, heck a few fellas from Lori's party wanted me to send you their best wishes. So, how you holding up, Linc?"

Rubbing his arm, the white haired boy answered. "Other than the fact that my arm is in constant pain, I'm getting there. Not gonna lie, it feels kind of good here, it almost feels like having a room that isn't a converted linen closet." he remarked. "Say guys, do any of you have any idea of how my sis...the girls are doing."

His rough friend who was a girl scoffed. "Who cares? I honestly ignore them being even this close to me, though I will tell you some people are really giving them a hard time, not that they don't deserve it."

Lincoln looked to Bobby and noticed his downcast expression, when he mentioned the Loud girls, it seemed to have made him think of Lori and he wondered where they stood in light of what he learned. "Bobby, are you and Lori still...you know..."

Bobby had to think about that for a moment, a part of him never thought he had to face this kind of situation ever again, the last break up they had was a long time ago and the reason for it was admittedly stupid now that he thought about it. But this time, things are different, her actions have greatly made him see her in a different light, he used to think of her as an angel but after finding out what she and the other Louds did, it was hard to forgive and forget this time. "All I can tell you is that I don't think I'll be going through the tunnel of love with a special someone anytime soon."

This made his little brother figure feel a little guilty, as annoying as it was to see him and Lori gush over each other most of time, he still felt happy for both of them and he was afraid that he might have ruined Bobby's chances at romance, to him there was no one else but Lori. "I'm...sorry."

The seventeen year old shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Little Loud. What's done is done."

"Roberto, Ronalda." everyone turned and saw Maria standing in the doorway.

"What's up mom?"

"Sorry, but I have to ask you two and your friend to stand out for a moment, there's someone who wants to visit Lincoln alone." the nurse/mother explained and though they were confused, they nonetheless complied.

Lincoln himself was curious on who wanted to see him, his first thought was one of the sisters or the parents but they wouldn't dare to come back after what happened last time, he then considered it being the friends from school but Ronnie Anne and Clyde would have told him about it, other than that, he couldn't really think of anyone else coming to visit him in his current state. Not that it wasn't welcomed, with the days he's been having he could find some form of comfort with someone who was willing to actually care about his dilemma, that's more than he could ask from the Louds. He heard the door open and once he saw his recent visitor, his eyes went wide in shock.

"It's...you?"

* * *

 **Ha! Cliffhanger!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Had a lot of stuff going on, and I needed to come up with future plans for this story, especially with the route that it's going with, you know, the revelation that someone had hired Simon Lynch to nearly kill Lincoln with a gun but had one of their underlings poison Lynch before he could tell the detectives who it was. Now, I'm only saying this in advance that there might be some clues that will point to who the person is, but don't think I'll make it easy for you guys. Some of you might be right, others may be wrong, too early to say at this point. In this chapter, we'll delve into more of the mystery and how the detectives will set out to find the identity of the one who ordered the hit in the first place, until then, feel free to speculate, I'm curious about what your guesses will be, and who knows, you just might be right?**

 **Now, let's get started, shall we?  
** **Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and leave your Reviews.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Lincoln Loud knew that he'd be getting visitors during his time in the hospital, whether it be friends from his school, or people who've become associates of the Loud family, those such as Ronnie Anne, Clyde, and Bobby are proof of that, he was expecting his maternal grandfather, Albert, to make an appearance, hopefully without _them_ accompanying him this time. But he never expected someone like this one to visit him at the hospital, for starters, he only saw a glimpse of him not too long ago. But nevertheless, detective Abraham Stone was right there in his hospital room, the white haired boy could tell that he was a cop, not from his badge, but if he recalled correctly, he was one of the two cops that escorted his parents here. "Hey there, kid." Stone greeted with a friendly smile. "How you doing?"

"Uh…..fine." Lincoln answered after what seemed like forever. "Sorry, I just didn't expect to see you here, Mr..." he just realized that he never got the cop's name.

"Name's detective Stone, son." he held his hand up for a handshake. "I'm one of the officers handling this whole case. Figured I'd pay you a visit after everything's that happens. Not only that, but I feel I should tell you that we managed to apprehend the so-sicko that shot you kid, it wasn't easy but we got him."

For the first time in weeks, Lincoln actually felt some relief wash over him, truth be told, he never really gave much thought about the shooter. Looking back, he was so sure he was gonna die, but while he was beyond afraid, it almost felt welcoming in a way, so many bad things have happened up to that point, dying would make it so that he would never feel that sort of pain ever again. Jesus, that was messed up in so many ways, it made him wonder if he was starting to go a little insane and he may need to go to that Dr. Lopez therapist Clyde always talks about. Nevertheless, that was one less child shooter to worry about. "I see." Lincoln said, looking down with an indifferent look. "...Thanks. Is there anything else?"

Stone knew he had to be careful about what he says next, the kid may be relieved now, but there's really no telling how he'd take the news about said shooter being poisoned to death, or that apparently, someone had hired Simon Lynch to shoot the kid in the first place and had the bastard killed before he could spill anything. He had no doubt that would only succeed in instilling fear into Lincoln, that there might be someone else sent to finish the job if that was the case, he had already requested that the boy would be under protective detail until they can get to the bottom of this and it might help if Lincoln doesn't suspect a thing. It was still so perplexing, it all started with the kid getting shot, then there's the whole thing with his family and their crazy superstitions, and now it turns out the whole case wasn't a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

All in all, Stone felt he was getting too old for this kind of craziness.

Even so, he had a job to do, which required him to get a good idea of the degenerate who orchestrated. "Listen, I know you probably want to focus on getting better, but tell me, would there be reason for the guy to shoot you in the first place? Can you imagine anyone purposely doing that kind of harm to you, we think there might be something personal about what the guy did to you. His name is Simon Lynch, have you ever encountered him before and did something happen that may have made him want to try an attempt on your life?"

"Hmmm...no, not really." Lincoln answered after thinking hard on his answer. "I never met a Simon Lynch before, and I can't say I can imagine anyone actually wanting to hurt me or someone else from my family. It all just happened, and I couldn't really think about it at the time, obviously. Sorry sir, but I can't really give you a clear answer, at least not now."

Stone rubbed his chin in thought. He had a feeling that checking to see if the kid could fill in some blanks on this case was a longshot, guess he and Brookes will have to work with what they got at the moment. "Alright, thanks for your good time, go ahead and rest up, you definitely need it. One more thing, just know that we spent a lot of manpower on tracking him down, and if necessary, we'd do it again." he told him, with upmost honesty. To Stone, it was a promise to get to the bottom of this mystery, no matter what.

To Lincoln, it proved that there are people out there that actually gave a damn about him, which was all the more comforting. As he watched the detective leave, there was a question aching inside him that he wanted to ask but a part of him considered if he should even care. But even so, those two were until a few weeks ago his parents. "Detective." he called, making the old man stop in his tracks. "What's-What's gonna happen to my pa-to Mr. and Mrs. Loud?"

 _'Damn, not even calling them his parents? Those two really messed this kid up.'_ Stone thought, mildly surprised. Of course, this was to be expected, but still, he's more sore about the whole incident than anyone could have imagined. "That's up to the courts to decide. Don't worry about it, just focus on getting better."

With that, the detective left, leaving Lincoln alone again. He told the boy to don't worry about it, but those were still the people who used to be his parents, and it was only natural for him to be curious what fate may come as a result of their careless actions. Logically, he would want nothing more than for them to be rightly punished for what they did, in his mind, they deserve it. But that didn't mean he felt good about it, and thinking about the girls who used to be his sisters, Pop-Pop can't take care of them forever and he'll eventually have to go back to the nursery house. Once that happens, it's anyone's guess what'll become of the girls.

And yet, he feels concern for them. He still holds his former family in contempt for what they did, but at the same time, he remembers a point where he used to believe that they all had a mutual love for each other and they did seem genuinely sorry about the whole bad luck mess, but too much damage has already been done, and simple apologies just aren't good enough to erase all the pain, both physical and emotional. With a heavy sigh, he lied back on his hospital bed, and gazed at the ceiling before closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep.

* * *

Detective Brookes was waiting in the car for his partner to come back from visiting the kid, it was suggesting to them by the captain to try and question the kid if he could think of anyone twisted enough to want to try to kill him. It was asked why couldn't they question the parents or the sisters, but considering their questionable actions, they all hardly counted as reliable. The whole squad were pulling their weight, what started out as a simple case of a wrong place wrong time situation quickly evolved into a mystery; someone hired Simon Lynch to shoot Lincoln Loud and before Lynch could give them a name, he was poisoned to death. They tried searching for the fake officer that gave Brookes the drink that had the poison inside, but he was long gone, so suffice to say, this might be their biggest case in years.

His musings were cut off when Stone finally came back to the car. "Any luck?" Brookes asked, already starting the car's engine and driving away from the hospital.

"Nah." Stone shook his head. "Kid couldn't think of anyone who'd want to kill him, even when I didn't tell him about Lynch kicking the bucket or about what he told us about someone hiring him to shoot, he couldn't think of anything."

"So we're back to square one. Great." Brookes dryly said with an eye roll. "Although, the guys at CSI identified the poison that killed Lynch. It's apparently something made from 10 or 20 seeds from some rare exotic plant in South America. Plants like that are very hard to come buy, you gotta be rich enough to even afford a shipment of those."

"Which means whoever's responsible has to have pretty deep pockets." Stone surmised. "That actually makes sense, the son of a bitch must've promised Lynch a pretty big price that was enough to make the bastard accept the job of killing a kid. Never did like those sheltered folks, always spending their money on who knows what." he formed a hardened glare. "And someone thought they had enough to shoot whoever they please, just pisses me off."

Brookes shook his head. "I still can't believe this, Abe. Before now, the worst we ever had to handle were simple burglaries or people who don't pick up their dog's shit. Now we got kids being shot, someone ordering it in the first place, and poisoning loose ends? It's all a whole different ball game, man."

"You saying you want out?" Stone asked, warningly.

"Hell no." Brookes responded, a little insulted his partner would think that. "I want to figure this out just as much as you do, all I'm saying is that I never really saw myself working a case like this. To be honest, this seems like the kind of case that was made for that special unit in New York, from what I heard, they specialize in dealing with crazy cases like this, especially when it comes to abused victims. That or maybe that squad in Chicago, I hear they've had their fill of action."

"Well, this isn't New York or Chicago, Matt. This is Michigan, our neck of the woods, and we didn't put these badges on just to show it off to the ladies, either we solve this mystery, or let the bastard get away with what he did. Hell, I'd even risk my pension to nab him." both remained silent as Brookes continued to drive with a new resolve, they were gonna get justice for Lincoln, or die trying. "Speaking of deep pockets, I asked the hospital who'd pay for the kid's time in the hospital, and it looks like someone's already paying for it."

"Really, now? Huh, wonder who's the good Samaritan."

* * *

Getting away from the cops was surprisingly easy to say the least, but then again, he left as a cop who was seemingly finishing up his shift for the day, by the time they had everybody scrambling, he had already called for a taxi. Even so, there was no doubt that the whole department would pursue this new revelation, from the sound of things, it looked like that snitch, Lynch had told them that he was hired to shoot that kid. Though it was fortunate that he died before he could tell more, the cops now know that there was more to the shooting, and that could cause some complications in the long run, and the boss won't be happy about that.

Walking into a warehouse somewhere in the other side of town, he removed his hood to reveal himself to be a man in his early 30s with auburn hair and a light beard. Inside the warehouse were two identical twins brothers in business suits and towered over the third guy, along with being muscular as well. Both stood beside a television in front of a chair. "Chuck, Lazlo, sorry I'm late." the formerly disguised cop apologized.

"The boss wants to speak with you, Aaron." Chuck coldly said. "He doesn't sound too happy."

"Please, take a seat." Lazlo instructed, gesturing to the chair.

Gulping, Aaron complied with the request and for the most part, nothing was said between the three, until Lazlo turned the TV on and the screen showed a silhouetted figure. **"Hello, Aaron."** he greeted, his voice disguised by a synthesizer to make his identity even more hidden, even to those around him, there's no such thing as being too careful after all. **"Tell me, did you do what was asked of you?"**

"Y-Yes, of course, boss." Aaron replied, not even using his real name, as that was a rule that his enigmatic superior placed when it came to matters such as these. "I placed the poison in the drink like you asked, they gotta have him at the morgue by now."

 **"Excellent."** the boss said, sounding pleased by the confirmation. **"That piece of trash played his part, there was no need for him anymore, you did well."** hearing his praise made Aaron breath a sigh of relief. **"However, my mole in the police department informed me that the whole place knows that Lynch was hired to shoot that brat, and him being silenced only supported his claims. You couldn't have killed him sooner, let's say before the cops nabbed him, could you?"** **  
**

Flinching under the disappointed tone, Aaron tried to make an excuse for himself. "Boss, by the time I arrived at the bar, Lynch was running away from the bar and those two cops had already nabbed him when I caught up. I was hoping he didn't say much before slipping in the poison, but it was too late. Besides, I don't we should worry that much, Lynch is dead, and the cops don't know a thing."

 **"Although you're right, it was my intention that the police had no idea of the truth, now that they are aware of someone hiring Lynch in the first place, they'll use every manpower they have to find me, and lock me up like some animal. I refuse to let that happen, not that I'm not confident about my ability to stay hidden, far from it, I just simply hate it when things don't go according to my plan. It welcomes the possibility for it all to com crumbling down all around me. But, you did do as I asked, and I suppose I can't fault you for being loyal, so you can rest easy."**

"Oh, thank god." Aaron whispered, having been worried that his superior would punish him severely for one simple failure, he'd have to make a note to not make another one again.

 **"However."** the boss spoke up, making Aaron sit up straight. **"I should warn all that are present that cops can be quite the tenacious bunch, while I doubt they'll get far, we can't out-rule the possibility of a slip-up, which is why I want you to take care of any loose end you can think of, remove any clue that points to me and more importantly, make sure to not arouse suspicion. Understood?"**

"Yes, sir." all three obediently replied.

"But boss, what about that kid?" Aaron brought up. "I mean, he's still alive."

 **"True. It was originally intended for Loud to die, guess next time I should hire someone with more competent aim, but he's served his purpose. Didn't really matter to me if he survived or not, if I'm being honest, and I suppose paying for his hospital bills is less pricey than paying for his funeral, it would be best to leave him alone. After all, he is just a child, I doubt he could do much to threaten my plans, so focus on anything but him. That will be all."**

With nothing more to say, the connection was cut off.

Just who was this person and how important was his goal that he had a child shot?

* * *

"Shouldn't you be with that goth club of yours?"

….

"Luce?"

….

"Come on, I know you're not deaf, so quit it with the silent treatment, it's almost as creepy as your Houdini act."

"Sigh." barely putting in the effort, Lucy turned to her jock sister as the two of them sat together on the couch, after what happened in their respective schools, the sisters made it home in no time as there was nothing for them there. It was as if everyone suddenly became a clone of the gothic poet of the family, as if the prospect of their parents facing jail time and their brother basically disowning them wasn't enough, but all their friends turned their backs on them, which is understandable. The backlash was just too much, they lost the trust and friendship of people they spent years forming bonds with, they felt the sting of heartbreak from being rejected by their crushes and now, they were left with only each other and no one else. "What about you? Not playing soccer or baseball?"

Lynn turned away with a sour look, the looks of disappointment that all of her coaches and teammates sent her way were still fresh in her mind and she hated it. "I was cut from all my teams."

Her younger sister went silent as she took it in, guess she's not alone in that department. "I see. Well, I guess I should tell you why I'm not with my fellow comrades. But just for the record, we're the Morticians Club, you don't have to be goth to be a member...even though a majority of the club happen to have such tastes, but that's just a coincidence. And to answer your question, I did go, but when I went there, no one said a word, at least not to me." she clarified with a even more depressed tone than usual. "It was like they were ignoring my very presence, like they didn't even know me or acknowledged that there ever was a Lucy Loud in their club." she found her lips quivering.

Ever since the whole incident started, Lynn's done something that was used to be considered impossible, taking note of her siblings' feelings and trying to be sensitive about them. "I'm sorry about that, sis. Guess not too many people are happy with us, I heard from Lana that not even Flip would spare us a look and none of us even tolerate him."

"Truly ironic."

"What's worse is that no one's trying to fix things, even Lori and she's supposed to be the big sister around here to everybody. Why did I have yo be such a sore loser. In fact, I never should've made Lincoln come to my game in the first place, he didn't even want to be there and I still blamed him for me losing." Lynn bitterly reprimanded herself.

"It is not only you who was at fault." Lucy reminded her. "Everyone of us are responsible fate that has befallen our family, even when he admitted the truth, we refused to hear it. Truth be told, a part of me wanted to believe him but the superstitious part was more in control, and now I failed him as his sister, I didn't have his back like when he..." she trailed off from there.

"Like when he what?"

Just like when he took the blame for clogging the toilet with Princess Pony comics, she could never forget him sacrificing something he was exited for to save her from the harsh teasing. It was one of many times where he showed that he was her big brother first and foremost and that outweighed some comic convention he was gearing for. "It doesn't matter now."

Before more could be said between the two roommates/sisters, the door was kicked open and the twins, Lana and Lola, walked in and needless to say, they were not looking as cheerful or proud as their known to be. the latter's mascara was running and the little animal lover actually had her signature hat off and tears were threatening to be unleashed, they silently made their way upstairs as Leni followed suit. "Uh, hey Leni, are those two okay?" Lynn asked.

The fashionable sister sniffled a little. "What? Oh, sorry, just had a bad day at school. And after school, I went to work and not a lot of people asked me what to buy and didn't take my advice. Ms. Charmichael was nice enough to not fire me, but it's hard enjoying a job you like when nobody there asks you for help. Anyway, Lola sorta got kicked out of the pageant committee, I think they banned her and Lana's friends wouldn't let her play with them in some icky mud puddle." she then saw her rocker sister walk down the stairs. "Hey Luna, something wrong?"

"Luan's just sitting around, waiting for her phone to ring for that funny business she runs." the rock and roll enthusiast answered. "Also, I'll be staying home tonight, the band pretty much kicked me. Sam encouraged it." she clenched her fist tight as she was trying to act all cool about it, but inside, she was close to breaking down. "Probably for the best, heart wouldn't be in it, you know?"

"By the way, what about Lori and Lisa?" Lucy asked. "I haven't heard one single phone conversation between her and someone else on the other end through the house's thick walls, and there hasn't been any bright lights coming from Lisa and Lily's rooms."

Leni gained a downcast expression. "I don't anyone will be texting her anytime soon."

"And it may just be me, but I think Lisa will be holding off on the whole nerd work for a while." Lynn voiced her opinion.

And wouldn't you know it, the sports fanatic of the family was actually right for once, the young prodigy that is Lisa Loud was not busy at work on one of her many groundbreaking experiments, the recent state of her kin has left her disheartened and it costed her the drive to continue on her many studies and research, any work she still had were immediately abandoned. Not too long ago, she got a message from various science communities that they denied her presence for their meetings, but that didn't even compare to earlier at school where everyone avoided her, including Darcy, her first real friend since like ever. Normally, she would try to not let such things affect her, but in recent days, the human emotions that she's tried hard to suppress were threatening to come to light and these emotions weren't the happy kind.

Despite being incredibly intelligent for her age, Lisa Marie Loud was still just a little girl of 4 years, and she was afraid where her family would go from where they are right now. Child abuse is a very serious crime, one that many people frown upon, those who are responsible are met with hate from all corners and are faced with a long sentence behind bars. But that was only for those who had every intention in hurting their own kids, Lynn Sr. and Rita were not those kind of people, they loved their kids unconditionally and are ashamed of themselves for what's happened to their boy. Thinking about said boy made her heart clench, seeing those hate filled eyes directed to her and the others was a sight she would never forget, but they did give a drive to make things right.

Lisa took it upon herself to try and fine a loophole, they may not be perfect, but they're still her parents and going to jail over one mistake seemed unfair, and more importantly, she would soon after find a way to mend the rift between the family and their sole male sibling, the thought of him forever hating them was something she wanted to fix.

"Poo-Poo." the sound of her roommate's babbling snapped her out of her work.

"Not now, young infant sister." Lisa told the baby. "I'm busy trying to find a means in preventing our parental units from being found guilty and having to serve an extended sentence in a confined detention center where the most heinous of felons are locked away as penance for their crimes, street name: the big house. Immediately soon after, excluding you, the rest of us should work to try and appease to our brother's forgiveness, which I know is no simple task."

Hearing the name of her big brother made Lily sniffle. "Yinky…."

"I know." the intellectual sighed. "I too long for the days of his presence in our crowded home, things seemed so much simpler in those times, but I promise, we will make things as they were before faulty concepts clouded our common sense, we owe Lincoln that much, perhaps even more. You should be fortunate though, you're the only one that Lincoln still holds love for. It's easy to forgive you, since you are only of infant age, but me, multiple P. and doctorates and I believed in luck of all things. My scientific rivals will never let me hear the end of it."

Seeing that her big sister with doing stuff that makes her use big words, Lily sat in her crib and hugged her blanky close to her figure, that and the stuffed rabbit toy that belonged to Linky, the one called Bun-Bun. Lily missed him so much, she saw him sleeping and tried to wake him up but he wouldn't, then he did and she was finally happy, but was then taken away from him and now she felt like crying again. However, before she could bawl her eyes out, she heard something coming from Lisa's workshop. Some strange noise that no one could make out, let alone a baby, but it still piqued her natural curiosity and babbled to the 4-year-old.

"What is it now, Lily?" Lisa asked in slight irritation, not wanting to be disturbed from her important research, but her interest also became piques once she saw the cause. "Hello, what have we here?" moving away from her laptop, Lisa moved to a trunk where she keeps inventions that she no longer has need for, in fact, she was thinking of selling them off to some of her colleagues, but never got around to it, she picked up a strange hand-held device that was made from parts of microphones and radios. "My old Transmit Resonator, if I recall correctly, this was meant to tune into transmissions through TV and radio waves, this shouldn't be operating unless it..."

That's when it happened...

She hard something...

 **"...mole in the police department...Lynch was hired to shoot that brat...intended for Loud to die...paying for hospital bills...my plans..."**

Lisa wasn't a prodigy for nothing. Not only was she a brilliant inventor and theorist, but she had impeccable powers of deduction and it didn't take a master detective to figure what the message just described, there was someone in the police department reporting to an outside force, the implications there are not okay and someone called Lynch was hired to shoot a kid with Loud in his name. Lincoln was shot not too long ago and it was all planned. "Sweet lord in heaven..." Lisa breathed in both shock and horror and made a dash out of her room. "Siblings! There is a pressing matter that I must share with all of you!"

* * *

It was easy getting a search warrant, even more so when you got guys in the streets who know their way around town and as long as they stay out of shady deals, the cops wouldn't bust them for minor inconveniences, at leas that's what they say. "So what do they call this place again?" Stone asked as the detectives drove up by the sidewalk. The plant where the poison came from could be legally imported into North America, as long as the owner removes the poison toxin from within, and tips from some of their contacts tells them that there is one plant shop in Royal Woods that sells exotic plants, the kind that require a lot of money.

"The Jasmine Branch." Brookes answered as they exited from their vehicle. "Some fancy plant shop that opened for business 10 years back, took a lot to convince the city council, including the mayor, to establish it. At least, that's what I hear." he explained as they continued walking through the people, drawing close to the shop.

"And this where the plant where the poison that killed Lynch came from?" Stone questioned. "The Atropa belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade, that's what they called it."

Brookes shrugged. "Well, it's the only place that sells exotic plants and we are looking for one that came all the way from South America, good as place as any to check out."

"It's better than nothing, I suppose."

Stone and Brookes walked inside the plant shop and saw the various forms of flora that was all around the place, each of them coming in an array of colors and shapes, seemed like the perfect place for forest lovers. Walking up to the counter, they addressed who they assumed to be the person in charge of the place. "Excuse me, Ms...Mariah." he said, looking at her nametag.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"I'm detective Brookes." Matt pointed to the elder. "This is my partner, detective Stone. There's been an incident involving a plant that we believe came from this shop." the girl seemed nice enough, but any employee here could be an accessory. "Did you happen to sell any Deadly Nightshade lately?"

Almost on command, Mariah's eyes widened in horror, knowing full well of the damages that particular plant can do. "Oh god...uh, well, we may have sold something like it, but I'm not so sure it's the one you're looking for."

Both detectives shared a look, her nervous demeanor and fidgeting body made it obvious that she was hiding something, and since it pertains to their plant, it looks like they got their first lead. "Even so, I hope you don't mind us looking through your records to verify." Stone held up the papers for her to see. "We got the warrant, in case you were wondering."

Hands trembling and lips darting back and forth, Mariah knew she had to come clean, getting involved in this kind of deal with the likes of _him_ was the worst thing that could've ever happened to her, and maybe the cops could help. "Okay look, let me just say I did not meant for anything I just needed more money to keep this place from closing down, if I tell you who ordered, please, just don't-ugh!"

It happened in a flash, no one heard a peep or noise, expect for the sound of Mariah's body dropping to the floor, a bullet hole shot straight in her chest. "Oh my god!" Brookes ran to her raid. "Go see where the shot came from, I'll call the medics!" Stone pulled out his gun and ran outside.

He tried looking for where the shot came from but there were too many people moving about, this might be too much but there was no other way, he shot the gun up high, getting everyone's attention. Everyone, listen up!" he held up his badge. "There's been a shooting, I need you all to stay where you are!" complying with the policeman's orders, no one moved an inch, but off the corner of his eye, Stone saw someone making a one for it. "Hey you, get back here!" Running through the people, Stone engaged pursuit.

And so, the chase begins.

* * *

 **Hope this is satisfactory.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the super late updates, people. I've been making notes on new story ideas and completely got sidetracked, been trying to update one story regularly to keep up the flow, especially ones that are more popular with readers. But don't worry, I could never forget about Losing Him, especially since I have a storm of ideas for how this whole mess will resolve itself, speaking of, the last time we left things off, the cops managed to track down the source of the poison that killed Lynch, the guy who shot Lincoln in the first place. Woman on the counter was scared out of her mind and before she could give the detectives the answers they were looking for, she got shot herself and so, one of the detectives pursued the shooter through the town of Royal Woods.**

 **I gotta say, nothing makes a story more then a good old fashioned mystery, so many twists and turns and theories, really makes you think long and hard to figure out the answer. When I first started writing this story, it was meant to vent out my frustrations over how the episode went, and now we have so much death happening and all that.**

 **Now, I can't really say when the next update will be, all I can say is that I won't take too much time on the next chapter.**

 **Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and leave your Reviews.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

You ever had those days when what you assumed to be cut and dry eventually revealed itself to be part of some convoluted plot and conspiracy that started with the shooting of an 11 year old boy living in a Michigan town. They managed to catch the shooter, but then the guy went and died from poison that was dipped into his drink, proving his claim that someone hired him to shoot the boy in the first place and just when the cashier lady was about to give them answers, she herself was gunned down in her own plant shop. While Brookes tried to support the woman, Stone went ahead to pursue the shooter who was making a hasty getaway.

"Stop right there! Police!" Stone waved his badge so that the pedestrians present would pave a way for him to chase after the shooter. Turning around, he shot a few rounds, causing a panic to occur, everyone started running away or ducking for cover to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Stone narrowly missed being shot and promptly fired back, but the bastard was too quick. "Detective Stone to dispatch, I am in pursuit of a shooting suspect, requesting immediate backup and a medical bus pronto!" he spoke through his radio.

The shooter knocked over various things to stall the detective, but Stone would be damned if he were to let him go so easily, he may not be as young as his partner, but he was spry enough to keep up, especially when the perp jumped up and climbed onto a fleet of stairs with Stone following suit until the shooter made all the way into the roof. He looked down to see Stone still climbing up and shot down, making Stone let go for a second before resuming his climb to all the way up. A chase through rooftops was ensued, with Stone jumping from close buildings to catch the perp and get to the bottom of this whole debacle once and for all. He fired with his gun once he saw the perp hold his up which shot it off his hands, giving Stone the chance to tackle him to the ground, with the perp wrestling to get away.

"Get your fucking damn hands off me!"

"No way in hall, ya prick!"

He grabbed Stone's gun, leaving both of them to wave it around at all directions, the perp pulled the trigger, shooting at the empty air and scaring a few birds away. Breaking away from him, Stone tried shooting but found that he ran out of bullets, with no other option, they both had to resort to good old fashioned fisticuffs to settle things. Stone made the first move with a right hook, followed by left fist aimed at the gut but his opponent grabbed it and kneed him right in the cop's own gut. Gritting his teeth, the detective grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to the ground where he proceeded to punch him repeatedly at his face. "Why'd you shot that woman?! Who hired you!" he punched again. "Answer me!"

The perp managed to muster enough strength to push him off and tried running but Stone managed to grab him from behind, leading the perp to elbow him off and continue his attempted escape, but soon found that one more leap would lead to his entire body kissing the pavement bellow and a pool of blood staining the streets, but then he saw a garbage truck. "It's over." he turned back, taking his gun and reloading it. "There's no way out of here, backup's on their way, just give it up." the perp moves to engage but Stone took aim. "Take one more step and I'll shoot! You wanna get out of this alive, right?"

All the shooter could do was stay where he was, he looked down to see the garbage men begin to unload a trashcan of its contents into the compactor, then back at the cop. He could turn himself in, tell them all the he knew, he'd stay quiet all he wanted but eventually, they would've managed to make him crack, and then, he'll have to face _his_ wrath. "There are things worse than death."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "What?" his eyes then widened when the shooter began to run towards the edge of the building with no hesitation, the poor bastard made his choice. "Wait, stop!" his calls fell on deaf ears once the shooter jumped down and landed right into the compactor which was just turned on. Stone was glad that he had a light lunch, otherwise, he'd have lost his lunch right there once he saw the compactor crush the shooter. The driver of the garbage truck didn't even know what was happening, blissfully unaware of the sound of crushing skin and organs.

"Christ." Stone shook his head.

Damn, when will this end?

* * *

Once he got back to the crime scene, Stone saw many police cars around the plant shop where the shooting took place, some officers were keeping the mass crowd out and saw CSI collecting evidence, including the gun of the shooter that was collected from the roof along, they also had to commandeer the garbage truck to observe what's left of the shooter. He grimaced once he saw Brookes standing silently over a sheet being placed over what was obviously a dead body, and he had a good idea on who it was. "The woman?

Brookes silently nodded somberly and let out a sigh. "Her name was Shannon, took over the place after her parents retired, most likely blackmailed by the person who ordered the poison. Heard what happened to the shooter, did he trip?"

"Worse. The son of a bitch jumped, knowing he would land in the truck." Stone shook his head, still reeling from witnessing such a thing, the kind of shit that would break many a person. "From the way he sounded, he preferred that over whatever would've happened to him if whoever he worked for caught wind of him getting busted."

"Can't imagine the kind of monster that would make his own guys so scared, they'd rather face death." Brookes noted gravely, such people are among the most depraved individuals in the world.

All this excitement made Stone pinch the bridge of his nose. "Three dead in a span of a few days. Jesus, we gotta get to the bottom of this, or who knows how many others will die, either if they're involved or getting caught in the crossfire."

"Easier said than done." Brookes responded, taking a walk with him. "Whoever hired Lynch to shoot the kid, also ordered poison to make sure Lynch doesn't rat him out. Once that was done, Shannon was just another loose end, as much as I want to lock this sick fuck away, he's pretty clever. The worst kind of criminals."

"The worst kind of scum." Stone replied in agreement.

"Abe. Matt." they both stood in attention when Captain Jenkins walked up to them, looking less than pleased. "Higher ups in the city council are crawling up my ass, demanding to know where we are on closing this case."

"Cap, we're doing the best we can."

"Apparently, it's not enough." another voice spoke up.

They all turned to see a woman in a business outfit advancing, she had long auburn hair tied up in a bun, wearing trimmed glasses and red high heels with a stern demeanor. "Detectives. Captain." she greeted with a curt.

"ADA Kennings." Brookes greeted back in surprise. 'U-Uh, good to see you again."

"Sandra Kennings." Stone crossed his arms with an almost bemused expression as opposed to his usually stoic expressions, along with a hint of familiarity as well. "Was wondering when you'd get involved, here I was thinking us grunts at the station were handling this alone."

"When word of you apprehending Simon Lynch reached to city hall, it was assumed that the case would be closed and we could move on." Sandra explained, staring the detective down with him returning the gesture, both shooting daggers at each other making Brookes a little uncomfortable and eventually Sandra formed a smirk. "What we didn't count on was a perp being poisoned at a precinct or two more deaths. Captain, I expect a full detailed review on what we know so far, same with all victims and possible leads, at least I'm assuming you have any to begin with."

Jenkins rubbed his head. "It's...a work in progress."

"I see." she turned to the detectives. "Do we at least have any suspects?"

"Unless you can thing of someone capable of making a whole mess of shit like this, we got nothing."

Nodding in response, Sandra proceeded to exit the crime scene to leave the police to their own devices, but took a moment to send one last message to them as she left. "We're on the same team here, gentleman, we all want this taken care of before more bodies pile up on our streets, it'd help if you put some more effort into it."

"Taking your own advice?" Stone cracked before leaving the scene herself. "If you need me, I'll be doing my job, tell her is she wants anything, she should try stepping down from her high horse."

Brookes shook his head. "I can never figure out those two."

* * *

Not a lot of things could take Lisa by surprise, as a child prodigy with an intellect that far surpassed many other intellectual minds of those much older than her, she made it a point to be ready and prepared for any eventuality and how to overcome it. That sort of intuition failed her in recent days, and once again, she found herself facing an unexpecting turn of events. She never intended on coming across that message, but once she did, the young 4 year old thought that everyone else had a right to hear it. She asked Lori to assemble the rest of the siblings for an ever important sibling meeting so that she could share her findings.

 **"mole in the police department...Lynch was hired to shoot that brat...intended for Loud to die...paying for hospital bills...my plans..."**

It felt like the umpteenth time they replayed the message and yet, the shock of it all was still present, some like Leni covered their mouths to stifle a gasp of horror while Luna and Lynn tightened their fists in anger and the twins shivered in fear. With things the way they are, it almost makes you think the universe had it out for the Louds, perhaps whatever higher power exists was merely biding its time before delivering retribution upon them for their misdeeds of the past. It also seemed like nothing was enough to make their lives hell, their brother getting shot, their parents being arrested, and becoming the town's social pariahs, and now this. Perhaps, this was a blessing in a very convincing disguise, because for them, this just might be the only shot they'll ever get at redemption.

"Lisa." Lori began after a long moment of collective silence among the band of sisters. "Simon Lynch, that was the monster who shot Lincoln, right?" she recalled watching a news coverage about him and about his death as well.

Gulping, Lisa nodded in confirmation. "Indeed. As I'm sure you're all aware, the police made an arrest on a felon named Simon Lynch who by all right was the degenerate responsible for nearly taking our sole male sibling away from us. I should also note not long after his arrest, he died while in the police station as the news already covered, how he died is unknown, however."

"So,...someone hired him to shoot our bro." Luna surmised, trembling in fury.

"That is the most logical conclusion. Yes."

"Who?" Lynn growled.

"Before answering that, I must advise to keep your anger levels at a minimum. While I greatly understand how you feel, it is quite imperative to keep in layman's terms, a cool head." clearing her throat. "Now, I deeply apologize to say that the identity of the unnamed person that orchestrated the shooting is currently unknown. Truth be told, I came across this message by pure accident."

"Then why can't you just find more?!" Lynn demanded.

"Because the device hasn't been operational for some time and to get the complete message would take hours, perhaps days."

Lana hugged her shoulders. "B-But who would want Lincoln shot?"

"Seriously, none of it makes sense." her twin agreed. "A-And they have an inside man in the police!"

Lucy shivered a little but kept her composure. "Whoever's behind this...the message implied that he's paying for his hospital bills too, do we even know anything about that?"

"Interesting you brought that up, Lucy. I too was curious on how the monetary service would be handled following Lincoln's recovery while recuperating in the local hospital and oddly enough, I couldn't manage to find who paid, they were using an unknown account that was untraceable." she explained, scratching her chin in thought. "I thought it seemed suspicious, but I mostly wrote it off as some unknown good Samaritan who was kind enough to lend their assistance, it appears that once again, I made a mistake." she looked down in shame.

Leni tapped her chin. "Wait, but why would they pay?"

"Another question of which I have no answer, I'm afraid." she regrettably informed them. "Whoever this enigmatic mastermind is, they're exceptionally skilled at covering their tracks, which would make uncovering his or hers identity quite difficult."

"Well you're the smarty pants in the family!" Lynn pointed out. "Make some nerd thing or fix that old one and figure it out, so we can hunt down this prick and teach him a lesson?!" she punched her own palm with her fist, ignoring the pain, all she wanted was the pain of the mastermind and nothing more. Plus, she could prove it to everyone that's been giving them crap that all evidence to the contrary, they truly do love Lincoln.

"Ease yourself, Lynn." Lisa told her. "First of all, this device has been in the reject pile for quite some time, I'd have to do extensive work to perfect the bugs to get in functional order once more. And second of all, I know you're anger and temper tends cloud your common sense, but at least try to think more rationally. This person was willing to kill an 11-year-old child and while I'm merely theorizing, I can't help but assume they might also had a hand in Lynch's death as well in an effort to silence him."

"So what are we supposed to do? Tell the police about this?" Luna scowled. "There's a rat there, and we have no idea which cop we can trust! Hell, there might be even more than we thought!"

"Everyone, silence!" the sisters promptly did so once Lori raised her voice, and it wasn't her usual bossy big sister voice, it was a more commanding tone mixed with maternal strict, she only reserved that for matters that require her to act like the responsible oldest sibling she needed to be. Lori knew that sensitive information like this should be in the hands of the police, especially since this would help greatly in their investigation, but at the same time, there appears to be a mole in the department. Whoever the leak is, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist like Lisa to figure out that he or she would warn their boss about it, and then the whole family would be targeted, creating more devastation. Quite frankly, there's no telling who they could trust, but then she recalled when they were in the station being questioned.

Abraham Stone and Matthew Brookes.

Those were the detective names that interviewed them when they arrived at the police station following the revelation of their actions and were the ones handling the whole case in general. Stone made it clear that he thought very lowly of their actions, he practically spelled it out that their the ones at fault for Lincoln getting shot, but while he was blunt, she couldn't fault him for it because what he said was more or less true, it may have been harsh but it was what needed to be said. Brookes was a bit more sympathetic, he was just as disappointed but still saw that they regretted letting their superstitions get the better of them, and knew that they'd do anything to have another chance.

"Lisa. Make a call."

* * *

The rational side of Detective Stone's mind was reprimanding him for not bringing Brookes along for this, the man has been a dependable partner for years and in this side of town, it paid to have some reliable backup. But the other part kept saying that it would've been too risky, one detective in this shithole was tolerable, two at the same time would rise suspicion and paranoia that would make these clowns think it was some sort of police ambush that could then lead to a firefight. Sometimes, Stone thinks the reason why Royal Woods' crime rate is lower than most places was because the criminal element of the town is filled with crazy paranoid jokes. Almost makes it unsurprising that an outside source is masterminding a nefarious plot had to do the thinking for him and he probably doesn't have any priors.

When it came to the other side of town, it was a place that no sane person would ever want to be caught it, unless they preferred to be cornered and mugged right there and bleeding out in the sidewalk with no one batting an eye. Stone always hated having to come here, it reminded him of the ugy truth that humanity is guilty of many a sin, and people like him who try to correct them are but a rarity. Then again, that was the whole reason why he became a cop in the first place, to correct these wrongs which was hardly a simple task but he doesn't give up, no matter what happens. Might sound a little cheezy, but that's just who he is.

Not only that, but I just so happens that his criminal informant always hangs around these parts, where all the street fights, girls looking to party, and deals were going down. Just standing still here was making him sick but to achieve his objective, going to dark places was a necessary action in order to solve this complex case of twists and turns that seemed to have no end in sight. If he recalls correctly, that slippery little weasel should be at the alleyway nearby, just where he always is and he better pray to god that Stone wouldn't catch in some shady deals. Dear god, he really needs to find a better CI, one who's not a complete crew up."

And lo and behold, there he was attempting to act like top shit to a bunch of posers, he was a man in his early 30s with long brown hair and beard wearing a blue jacket and black pants that were a little torn. "I'm serious, the lights will be out, that buddy of mine I told you about can take care of the alarm, it's an easy job."

"Murray!"

The petty lowlife's eyes widened in panic when he saw the detective. "Ah shit. Hey, uh, let's talk some other time, I...gotta go to my cousin's 2nd wedding reception, my best man speech is gonna kill it. My people will call your people!"

Stone looked to a nearby African American teen with a football and put his arm up which he used to catch the ball the teen threw, happy to oblige and with great force, threw it straight at the running lowlife hitting the back of his head. "GAH! MOTHERFUCKER!" Murray didn't have time to resume his hasty getaway once Stone grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the nearest wall.

"Thanks for the assist, kid." Stone said to the teen.

"Anytime, that punk ass bitch owed me fifty bucks." he scowled, picking up his ball. "Sick throw, old man."

"Oh come on, Tyrell!" Murray complained. "Did that solid I did for you two weeks ago mean nothing?!" Tyrell merely flashed him the finger as he walked away, not wanting to get in the middle of this making Murray gulp as he faced the hardened detective that had a certain fury in his eyes that he grew accustomed to.

"Running away at the first sight of me? That almost hurts my feelings." Stone said with a steely gaze and kept a firm grip on the CI.

"Yeah, yeah, great to see you too, Abe." Murray dryly said with apt sarcasm. "What? Those guys down in the west weren't enough for you so now you hounding on us unfortunate souls."

"Unfortunate souls my ass. Rob from 2nd street caught you hitting it up with party girls in a freaking party bus of all things while singing along with that money song on the radio." Stone retorted.

Murray chuckled nervously. "W-What? Come on man, you know Rob always makes up bull about me, like when he said he caught me jumping out of Mr. and Mrs. Walters apartment window half naked when the old man came bursting in, claiming I was doing his woman. Or when I allegedly left the scene of some guys beating on another guy when I told them it was me giving me the chance to walk away with their money. Or when-" he gritted his teeth when Stone stomped on his foot. "Alright, alright! I'll talk, these are new shoes you know, damn!" Stone released Murray who dusted himself off. "Mattie's not with you this time?"

"Would've been too risky, had to leave him behind but only for this one time."

"Too bad, he's about the only pig I actually tolerate, mainly because unlike some people, he doesn't manhandle me or throw stuff right at my face and I'm serious man, this mug's roughed up enough as it is." he crossed his arms crossly. "So, what do you want this time?"

"Simon Lynch, you ever heard of him?"

"Lynch? Yeah, shared a cell in the station one time, can't say we were ever close, man tried to rip my jacket off thinking it was enough to buy him some more of the so-called 'good stuff', guy's a sick fool." Murray rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Well, _was_ a sick fool."

"So, you heard about him dying." Stone noted.

"Hell, the whole neighborhood's heard about and are just losing it, man. I mean if he had died during a drive by or was cornered, no one would bat an eye but when a lowlife dies in a station, that gets everyone trying to get a gun to defend themselves."

"In this case, that fear's understandable." Stone stated. "Look, Murray, you are undoubtedly a buffoon when it comes to attempting to be some heartless criminal, but that buffoonery helps keep you out of doing stupid shit that could land you years to lifetimes. Not only that, but you always seem to know what goes on in the other side of things."

"While I take some offense to the buffoon part, I am otherwise flattered and you're lucky that's enough payment for me to tell you what I know and not because asking for money in exchange would lead to you socking me in the face. So, what sort of info do you want?"

"For starters, you wouldn't happen to have noticed anything shady going on?"

"Dude, shady stuff always goes on in these parts." Murray tapped her chin in thought. "Although, and you didn't hear it from me, but I noticed that some of the more professional types here have been missing lately, now I don't wanna start a panic, but it looks to me like someone's been collecting a lot of muscle but for what? Ain't got a clue but last week, I saw some fellas talking to some big guy, had on a fancy suit and everything."

"He got a name?"

"That's the thing, he only went by what I'm sure is fake name; Atlas. In fact, now that I think about it, I saw him talking with Lynch at the park and man, the wad of cash he whipped out was mouth watering, for a desperate guy like Lynch, it seemed like enough for him to shoot some poor little kid." Murray shook his head. "Hey, I'm raring to make an epic payday as much as the next guy but shooting kids? He's basically proving the bastards who call us animals right."

So, this Atlas is either the mastermind or more likely, works for the mastermind as he can't imagine the guy being stupid enough to walk in broad daylight hiring scum to do his dirty work. "Anything else?"

"Hmm..." Murray couldn't really think of anything else, but then he remembered how he eavesdropped a little and realized a word was exchanged between them that wasn't exactly random. "I did hear them say something."

"Tel me." Stone implored, ready to take anything at this point.

Murray stayed silent until he was absolutely sure. "Gemini."

* * *

 **Hmm, now what is Gemini?**

 **I...can't tell you at the moment, I could reveal it next chapter or sometime in the future, that's for you read and find out.**


End file.
